A New Generation is Born
by A-LionGleek
Summary: It's the first official week of glee club sessions for the 13 newest members of the New Directions, and they are more than ready to get the show on the road. But with drama popping up at every turn, the beginning of their time in glee club will be far from easy. Can the 13 brand new gleeks handle it all and show that they have what it takes to be a worthy new generation of gleeks?
1. A Good Feeling

**Greetings dear readers and fellow gleeks! It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that I now proudly present the 1st chapter of my newest addition to my collection of Glee-ful literature! Here's to hoping that (even in spite of how long it took for me to finish this chapter and get it posted following the creation and posting of that oneshot I treated you to at the beginning of this month) you all read, review, and enjoy! Because believe me, now that I'm very much back at work in creating stories for the Glee fanfiction community, I VERY MUCH intend to leave you with material that more than makes up for the wait I put you through during my time in the Teen Titans fanfiction community as well as leaves you more than willing to wait again the next time I ever go on Glee FF hiatus. That being said, prepare to be amazed people! Onward! With! The! Fic!**

 **A/N: Wait . . . what's this? OH! Oops! Almost forgot! Quick reminder everyone! I do not own Glee, nor any recognized characters from within the canon of that show! I do, however, own the 13 OCs you all know and love from my original Glee: We are Family story! And I also own a respectable collection of . . . related elements . . . ;) associated with these 13 OCs that get a well deserved introduction in this story. Sound intriguing? I certainly hope so! NOW onward we go with the fic!**

 **Chapter 1:**

 **A Good Feeling**

It was a beautiful Monday in late August 2035. To be more precise, it was August 25, 2035. And for one Will Schuester, this Monday was going to be a very important day. He looked out the window of his kitchen, a smile on his face and his green eyes agleam. "Today's gonna be a great day," he thought to himself. "I just know it."

And indeed, he couldn't have possibly been more excited about what would be happening this day then he currently was. He turned his head away from the window and resumed his purposeful, yet careful, dining of his plate of bacon, toast, and eggs. He wanted to be sure that he'd finished his breakfast before he went to work. And if he failed to have his morning coffee here at his house beforehand, he could always get a coffee at his place of business. The place in question that he worked at, was the local high school, William McKinley High, located all the way in the somewhat lame, unmemorable, and hardly exciting, yet also familiar, comforting, and quite homey for many of its natives, town of Lima, Ohio. And today, was the beginning of a new year at McKinley High.

Ok, not entirely true. The actual school year itself had, crazily enough, officially begun the previous Friday. But with this Monday, McKinley High would be undergoing its first full week of school time for the 2035-2036 school year. However, this little tidbit was hardly the true reason behind Will Schuester's current excitement for the day to unfold. Not at all. As proud as he was to still be the proud and hardworking American History teacher at McKinley High, it was his _other_ position amongst the faculty of the school that had him especially excited this day. He was also the equally proud, hardworking, passionate, and loyal instructor and manager of the school's resident glee club, the New Directions. And as of the past Friday, he now had a 100% brand new generation of members to train and teach in this club, starting today.

He sighed as he had this thought. "Part of me still can't believe that this is actually happening . . . again." Sometimes, in his mind, it seemed only yesterday that he'd been doing his usual work alongside the last group of students he'd had in the New Directions. And of course, no matter how many generations of New Directions members came and went, he would never forget Finn and Rachel.

But of course, today was not one of those long-gone days from the past. Finn and Rachel were elsewhere in the world, and so were virtually every other New Directions member he knew . . . except for the 13 brand new members he'd gotten just the previous Friday.

He smiled. "An entire brand new generation of New Directions," he thought to himself. "Thirteen new members. No leftover members from previous years. Thirteen members. Thirteen, 100%, brand new members." He nodded his head. "It's like I've been granted a clean slate after so many other overlapping previous generations of New Directions members." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And by God, I am going to make sure that I allow these 13 new students to become just as much like family to me as all the others to have come before them." He resumed his eating. "Today is the club's first official meetings for the school year. God I'm looking forward to this."

"I see someone's excited."

Will turned his head. Standing at the nearest entrance to the kitchen was his wife Emma. Mr. Schuester smiled, he knew that she hadn't entirely needed to come to the kitchen right now. She and their young son Victor had already finished their own breakfast a good half an hour before him after all. Clearly, she'd come to the kitchen just because she felt like checking up on him, and that always made him happy. "What can I say?" he extended his hands out sideways as if shrugging. "A new day, a new week, a new age." He smiled. "A new generation."

Emma chuckled. "I knew you'd be excited about the new kids."

"Yes you did." He turned his head, sighed in content, and took another few bites of his food. "I will admit. I'm still pleasantly surprised that all 13 of the kids you were so impressed by at that talent show two years ago actually made it into my club this year."

"Clearly, God wanted them in the New Directions just as much as I did."

"I suppose you could say that."

For a few minutes, Mr. Schuester silently ate his food. He eventually ate the last bite, got up from his seat, and cleared the table of his plate and silverware. As he did so, Emma spoke again. "You are aware how much time you could have to get to know them before now has passed you by over the last two years right?"

"I understand that Emma."

"I mean it Will," Emma insisted, strictly to make sure that her husband truly understood what he was getting into rather than out of a necessity for nagging. "The New Directions may consist of 13 entirely brand new members now; but out of all of them, 4 of them are sophomores, 8 of them are juniors, and one of them is a senior. That's not entirely the most ideal amount of time you could have to make your usual impression on them, especially not for the senior."

"I know I've been keeping them waiting over the last 2 years." Will briefly paused in his quick pre-dishwasher rinsing of his dishes. "Well technically 3 years in the case of the senior, but that's not the point." He turned from the sink to face Emma once more. "Look Emma, I know that I've never yet really allowed myself to get to know these kids as well over the last few years as I did for Tess, Riley, and the other members that graduated last year." He lifted his finger as if to emphasize his point. "But I've had so many students in this club already, all of them with varying amounts of years at school in which they were affiliated with me and my club, and I've been able to properly get to know every single one of them. Admittedly, some I've taken my time to get to know considerably longer than with others, but I've still always managed to reach the exact same level of appreciation and respect with them nonetheless."

Will turned around to face the window above the kitchen sink once more, sighing in content and determination. "And starting today, I am going to make damn sure that I get well on the way to achieving the exact same kind of love and respect for these new kids as I have with every single one of their predecessors; and that includes the senior."

He finished his preliminary rinsing of the dishes, loaded them into the nearby dishwasher, and then checked his watch. He smiled. It was 7:15 in the morning. He still had plenty of time. "I'm gonna go make my final preparations," he began as he made his way out of the kitchen. "And then I'll be off to work. I'll see you there later this morning. And if Victor's not finished with his own preparations by the time I've left, tell him I wish him luck."

"Can do."

"Awesome." Will exited the kitchen and made his way upstairs to the bathroom. Today was going to be a busy day. And he still couldn't wait to get it started. And judging by how happy Emma was about just who his club's newest members had turned out to be, he was certain that she'd be just as excited to have a chance at truly getting to know them as well when they ended up having to talk to her about the drama that always seemed to inevitably pop up amongst the members of the New Directions. And speaking of those kids, from their enthusiastic response to the news of them being granted membership after their auditions the previous Friday, he had a good feeling that they were just as excited about today as he was.

. . . . .

At 6:00 in the morning, in a house located in a separate neighborhood from the Schuester family, an Amazon Alexa device started loudly playing Taylor Swift's _Our Song_. A fair skinned hand extended out from underneath the covers of the bed next to the device's location and pressed the appropriate button, sending the machine into snooze mode.

With the music ended just as abruptly as it had begun, 16-year old Diana Eberhart withdrew her hand from her Alexa and rose into a sitting position, allowing her head, left arm, and her entire upper body to join her right arm outside the covers of her bed. Her eyes still closed, Diana stretched her arms into the year, simultaneously letting out a yawn. She lowered her arms, shook her head side to side slightly, and rubbed her eyes, letting out another yawn. She lowered her hands from her eyes, which finally opened to reveal a pair of still relatively tired looking emerald green orbs.

Diana turned her head to look at the small digital clock located right next to her Alexa, and a small tired smile came on her face as she saw that it was now 6:01 am. Smile still on her face, she reached for the Alexa and pressed the off button, shutting off her still snoozing alarm. On most other school days, especially ones as early in the school year as this one, she would allow herself to sleep in long enough for her alarm to go off a second time. This time, however, she had an especially good reason to make sure that she woke up as early as she could and allowed herself as much time to get ready as possible. "Today's the day," she thought to herself.

Diana proceeded to slide her legs out from under the covers and over the side of the bed, yawning one more time in the process. She shook her head side to side afterwards, trying her best to shake off her lingering tiredness. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and got up from her bed entirely. Despite still being somewhat tired, she wasted no time at all in going to the chest of drawers within her room and changing out of her pajamas and into an appropriate outfit she thought would work for today. Now dressed in some dark blue jeans and a long sleeved yellow shirt, she took a deep breath, and sighed in content. She turned to face her bedroom door. "Here goes nothing," she thought to herself. She departed from her bedroom, ready to start the day.

She made it all the way out of her room and halfway down the stairs leading to the first floor of her house when she finally noticed a very unexpected scent coming from the kitchen. She stopped, and took a deep whiff of the smell. Her eyes widened with surprise, and a delighted smile came on her face as she recognized the scent for what it was. She hurriedly, yet still quietly, proceeded the rest of the way down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

Sure enough, much to her delight, the delightful scent she'd caught while walking down the stairs was the smell of cooking banana pancakes. In fact, she could actually see her mother standing at the stove right now. She stepped forward into the kitchen. "Good morning mom," she said.

Candace Eberhart, a blonde much like her daughter, turned her head, a smile on her face as she noticed Diana now inside the kitchen with her. She nodded her head, blue eyes agleam. "Morning sweetie," she said. "You're up early."

Diana couldn't help but chuckle. She knew her mother wasn't usually this cheerful this early in the morning, let alone awake this early in the morning. She folded her arms across her chest. "I could say the same thing about you right now mom." She gestured towards the stove, delighted smile still on her face. "I notice you're baking banana pancakes. What's the occasion?"

Candace smiled, and shook her head side to side while flipping over another pancake on the stove. "Is it required for there to be a special occasion for me to cook my own daughter's favorite breakfast food?"

"Well no," Diana admitted. "Not really." She gestured towards her mother and the cooking pancakes. "It's just, it so rarely happens any day that isn't a special occasion. Granted, you did buy a pretty large stock of bananas this weekend, but I wasn't expecting . . ."

"Well in a sense, today does sort of have a special occasion attached to it."

Candace smiled upon hearing this newly added voice in the conversation, as she could see the person who'd spoken quite easily thanks to her position. Diana turned her head, surprised at the unexpected additional voice, only for her eyes to widen in delight upon recognizing none other than her father, Bertram Eberhart standing in the exact kitchen entrance that she herself had just used. "Dad," she said, not at all trying to hide her happiness. "You're up early."

"Yes I am." Her father rubbed his hands through his dark hair, an unusually happy smile on his face considering how early in the morning he was currently awake. "And for two very good reasons." He briefly checked his watch. "For starters, today I need to go in to work early; in fact, I need to be there by 7:15 today instead of the usual 8:00 am." He lowered his watch, smile back on his face, and his green eyes agleam as he looked at his daughter. "The other reason," he stepped forward into the kitchen and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Is that today, my baby girl finally gets truly started on the next step to becoming the big-name actress she's dreamed of being."

In that moment, the entire puzzle became clear. She looked at her mother, and then at her father. "All this," she began. "You're celebrating my making it into the glee club last Friday."

Her father smiled. "Right on the money baby girl."

Diana looked over at her mother, who nodded her head, silently adding further confirmation.

"You've dreamed of making it on Broadway for so long," Candace began. She looked directly in her daughter's eyes, smiling still. "Two years ago, you were able to make your first big step by taking part in that talent show. But for the two years that followed, progress became so halted. Now, at the very beginning of your junior year, you've finally taken yet another big step towards achieving that goal. You have joined the New Directions, the exact same club that Rachel Berry and so many other modern celebrities have managed to take part in. And if that club could make a star out of Rachel Berry and so many other former students alongside her," she paused long enough to flip another pancake, "then it can make a star out of you just as easily." She turned off the stove, and carefully transferred the pancakes from the pan to a nearby large plate. With the transfer completed, she turned back around and gestured towards the plate. "With such a big milestone, you've more than earned a banana pancake breakfast."

Diana shook her head side to side, her face practically glowing with gratitude and joy. "You really didn't have to do this."

Her mother smiled. "I know. That's what makes us so nice." She picked up the plate of pancakes and carried it over to her daughter. "Here," she said. "Take them and eat them." She nodded her head. "You've earned it."

Diana looked at the plate of pancakes, then at her mom, then at the plate. She nodded her head, and gingerly accepted the plate of pancakes. She set the plate down on the table, noticing happily that someone had already gotten out the syrup and silverware she'd need. She sat down at her chosen spot and prepared to start eating. She looked up at her parents while still cutting her serving of pancakes. "Aren't you gonna join me?"

"We will," said Candace. She nodded her head and gestured at her daughter. "But you don't have to wait for us to prepare our own breakfasts. Not today. You can go ahead and start eating. You've earned it for today. And besides," she looked at her husband. "Your father won't be sticking around to celebrate alongside us this morning as long as he otherwise would."

"Indeed," Bertram agreed. He walked over to the fridge and started digging around in the freezer before eventually drawing out a package of Jimmy Dean sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwiches. "Don't get me wrong. Under any other circumstances, I'd gladly stick around to celebrate with you and your mother. But I'll need to leave by 6:30 today, so I can't stick around to chat and linger as long as I'd like."

Diana nodded her head. "I understand." She looked at her mother. "You're absolutely sure. . ."

"I insist Diana," her mother said firmly, but kindly. "Go ahead and get started. I'll join you when I'm ready."

Diana thought to herself, and then nodded. "If you say so mom." She finished cutting her pancakes, applied the syrup, and started eating. At just the first bite, she closed her eyes and hummed at the delicious taste she knew so well. Already she couldn't wait to get the rest of the day underway. "Today's going to be a great day," she thought to herself as she ate. "I can feel it." Her smile widened as she thought about the other 12 students who'd be in the glee club alongside her. "I sure hope they're looking forward to this as much as I am."

. . . . .

At the exact same time, in the house right next door, another family was already hard at work in eating their own breakfast. All three members of the family in question each had a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and buttered toast. And of the three of them, the young boy about the same age as Diana seemed in an especially good mood as he carefully worked to finish his own serving, his gray eyes agleam. "Today's going to be a great day," he thought to himself. "I can feel it."

The boy's mother soon noticed this detail, and she chuckled, placing her half eaten 2nd slice of toast back on her plate. "You're sure in a good mood this morning Daniel."

Daniel Taymor chuckled, ate another spoonful of egg, and swallowed it after careful chewing. "Yes," he admitted. "I suppose I am." He reached up and brushed his fingers through his black hair. Then he resumed his eating. "I don't know. I guess I just have this instinctive feeling that today's going to be a good day." He smiled. "And the start of a great year to."

"Well its certainly good to see you so optimistic right now."

Daniel's father, Peter, a very well built and strong man with black hair and an equally dark stubble, chuckled at his own comment, and finished off the rest of his eggs. He picked up one of his remaining 3 strips of bacon and consumed half of it in one bite. "If you stay this happy throughout the rest of the year, I'm sure you'll do very well indeed."

Daniel chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "You could say that."

His mother, Wendy, chuckled, tossed her blonde hair side to side once, and then directed a teasing smirk towards her son. "You sure that your current mood doesn't have anything to do with the fact that today's the day that club you joined last Friday has its first official meetings for the school year?"

Daniel almost choked on the bite of toast he had in his mouth. He managed to keep himself from choking, and safely chewed and swallowed the toasted and buttered bread.

"What's this about?"

Wendy looked over at her husband. "Didn't Daniel tell you? He joined the New Directions last Friday."

Her husband raised his eyebrow, a slightly confused, yet also slowly increasing comprehension in his dark eyes. "You mean the glee club?"

His wife nodded. "Correct." She gestured over at Daniel, smiling with pride. "And from what he tells me, Zach and Diana made it into the New Directions with him, and so did a respectably sized bunch of other students that I'm sure could yet prove to be good friends of his over the course of this year."

Daniel let a nervous smile come on his face, though he was internally feeling just as much nervous as he was excited.

His father looked his way. "Is this true?"

Daniel mentally gulped, took a deep breath, and nodded his head. "Yes dad," he responded. "It's true." Admittedly, part of him was feeling glad to have finally told his dad about that little detail and regretting having thought it necessary to tell his mom and keep it hidden from his dad until now. The other part of him, however, was somewhat nervous about how his father would react.

Peter Taymor, rather appropriately considering how well built he was, was one of the highest-ranking mechanics at the local car repair shop Hummel Tires and Lube. More than once over the course of many years, he had expressed some mild hopes of his son eventually following in his footsteps. Admittedly, Daniel had at first been quite willing to consider the idea during his elementary school years. However, over the course of his time in middle school, he had come to strongly idolize the surprisingly famous Lima-born teacher Finn Hudson, and had later found himself developing a surprisingly skilled singing voice. Thus, he'd become quite willing to either become a teacher like his idol or perhaps maybe an actor alongside his close friend Diana, whom he'd recently started to suspect he was beginning to develop romantic feelings for. But despite his newfound confidence in his wanting to pursue this new dream, he had been understandably nervous about telling his dad about it due to how his father had seemed so happy about and invested in the idea of him becoming a mechanic instead. In fact, the only time his father had ever even heard him sing before had been at a talent show two years' prior that had occurred not too long after his middle school graduation.

For what seemed like an eternity, his father stared intently at Daniel, the boy finding himself increasingly nervous and with increasing difficulty at letting it outwardly show. Eventually, his father nodded, a still firm, but now slightly warmer, glow in his eyes. "I see." He picked up his third, and currently only uneaten, slice of toast and took a bite out of it. "Well then, I guess we'd best hope this proves a happy experience for you son."

Daniel gaped at his father in stunned confusion. "Wha . . . you're not . . . upset?"

Peter raised his eyebrow. "Why would I be upset?"

Wendy chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "Boys," she thought to herself.

Daniel looked down at his plate, briefly lost for words. "Well, I'm glad you're not; really I am. It's just that. . ." He sighed. "Well, you've always been talking about someday training me to take your place at the tire shop."

His father thought to himself. "True; but last time I checked, this is a free country." He nodded. "Things change. And people are free to make their own decisions and follow their own paths." He looked back at his son. "Why should the fact that you've joined the glee club make me upset?"

Daniel thought to himself. "Well," he began. "It's just that, you've only ever heard me sing _once_ , and that was two years ago." He shook his head side to side. "I mean, I thought that you believed that singing was just a hobby too me, and that my idolizing Finn Hudson was just a phase." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Not to mention, you also seemed to really have your heart set on me taking your place at the tire shop, and I didn't want to let you down, break your heart, or ruin some big dream you had or something. . ."

"Is this really you talking?" his father asked. "Or is this more of that bull-headed rubbish from that Nelson boy?"

Daniel paused. "Um. . ."

Peter sighed, and nodded his head up and down. "Daniel. I've told you this before, and I'm not afraid to reassure you on it again, but I am not Rick Nelson." He shook his head side to side. "If that man's dead set on having his son follow in his footsteps as a professional hockey player and is vehemently opposed to him pursuing any career but that, then that's his problem." He looked up at his son. "Look Daniel, I'll admit, maybe if this had happened at any time before that talent show two years ago, or sometime in the future with you already having a position at the shop, I perhaps would have been upset about you deciding on something different."

He pointed his finger at Daniel as if to emphasize a point. "But this isn't the time and age where boys were strictly required to always follow in their father's footsteps when it comes to career and how they spend their life. And this family isn't one of those families that still acts as if it is. I may have entertained the idea of you being my direct successor at the tire shop one day while you were in elementary school, but just about anybody around here could become a mechanic at Hummel Tires and Lube. What's more important to me is that you do what makes you happy." He nodded his head. "Tell me Daniel, being in this club, do you think that it will make you happy?"

Daniel thought to himself. Eventually, after careful consideration, he nodded his head up and down. "Yes."

"If you were to become a singer, actor, or anything else that would make you at all like Finn Hudson in the future, do you think you would be happy?"

Daniel thought carefully to himself once more. "Yes," he eventually responded. "I do believe I would."

Peter nodded, his hand making a 'see what I mean' gesture. "Then go ahead," he said. "Be a member of the New Directions and be happy. Like I said, as happy as I'd be to have you take my place at the shop, I'll be far happier if you follow and achieve the dream that in the end makes you happy. And if singing and dancing in a glee club and becoming similar to Finn Hudson in any capacity is what's gonna make you happy, then by God, I'm not gonna be the one heartless enough to try to stop you." He nodded his head. "You're my son Daniel, not my clone. And I love you, and would rather see you as you can possibly be in a job of your own choosing then being only half as happy, if at all happy, in a job that you only thought you'd want because it was what I might have thought you wanted." He extended his hand and placed it over his son's own right hand. "So go on out there with the New Directions and enjoy yourself." He let an almost teasing smile come on his face. "Besides," he then said. "I'm sure Diana will like it much better if you were to make it into New York alongside her then be stuck here in Lima as a lowly mechanic, now won't she?"

This earned a chuckle from Wendy. "You know I could have told him that for you Peter."

Daniel hung his head, his face starting to turn a respectable shade of red from mild embarrassment. "Seriously dad?" he thought to himself. But nonetheless, as he eventually resumed eating the last of his breakfast food, he couldn't help but feel considerably happier then he'd already felt before his mother had broken the news about his joining the glee club to his dad. "That actually went a whole lot better than I thought it would." He nodded his head, still chewing a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "At this rate, today's definitely gonna be a good day." He turned his head to direct his smile towards the glass door behind him. "Heck, at this rate, the entire week will probably be just as great as today's going to be." His smile widened, a confidant gleam now in his gray eyes. "Maybe even the whole year."

. . . . .

Calvin Martenson crunched and gnawed at the breakfast cereal in his mouth, snarling hungrily with delight as he did so. "Today's going to be a fantastic day," he thought to himself, his black eyes agleam with excitement. "I just know it." He swallowed his current mouthful of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, and then hungrily wolfed down another 3. "And the sooner I finish my breakfast, the sooner I can get this fantastic day properly started." He chomped up another mouthful of cereal, practically growling with delight as he gnawed and crunched it up.

"Someone's excited this morning."

Calvin paused in his chewing, his eyes wide with shock. He turned his head, and then promptly swallowed his bite of cereal and let a sheepish grin come on his face upon sight of the half amused and half meaningful look his mother was directing towards him from her seat at the table.

"Sorry mom," said Calvin. He took another bite from his bowl of cereal, this time making carefully sure to eat it in a somewhat more civilized manner then the last few bites. He chewed it up, swallowed, and sighed in content. "I'm just really excited today."

"I noticed." His mother turned her head to look behind her son. "There's hardly any other reason behind moments in which you start eating your food in the same style that Hobbes does."

Upon hearing this, Calvin turned his head. Sure enough, his very well trained therapy dog, a German shepherd named Hobbes, was right at that very moment still ravenously engorging himself on the generous serving of dog food in his food bowl, snarling and growling in much the same way his currently still 15-year old master had been not too long ago. Calvin chuckled nervously, turned his head to face his cereal once more, and shook his head side to side. "Yeah," he said sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Well regardless of table matters, at least you're in a good mood."

The speaker, Calvin's father Gerald, chuckled, his blue eyes agleam. He took a bite from his toast, and then scratched his head, which, like his son's, was covered in golden yellow blonde hair. Many people had noted how much Calvin looked the way his father had looked when in high school. He had the same fair skin, the same hair, and many other elements that made him a virtual spitting image of his dad from teenage years. Except for the eyes. Those had come from his mother. Gerald Martenson chuckled again, and looked over at his wife. "You've gotta admit Mallory, beastly table manners or not, at least he's happy."

Mallory Martenson, a dark-haired woman with lightly tanned fair skin, rolled her dark eyes in mock annoyance. "Good mood or not, his table manners this morning nonetheless leave room for improvement." She looked back at her son, a now warm smile on her face. "But even so, I am happy just the same to see that you're happy this morning."

Calvin smiled back. "Thanks mom."

He returned his attention to finishing his cereal. Once he was finished, he took his bowl to the sink, rinsed out the small amount of milk that remained in the bowl, and placed it in the nearby dishwasher. He checked his watch. "6:45," he noted. He looked back at his parents. "What time do we leave again mom?"

His mother chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "7:30 sweetie," she responded. "Like always."

"Right," said Calvin, another sheepish look on his face. "Of course. Sorry."

His dad chuckled again. "You must really be looking forward to your first official meetings in the New Directions today if you're this excited about getting the day started."

Calvin let out a sheepish chuckle of his own. "That obvious huh?"

Hobbes, having eaten enough to satisfy his own hunger for breakfast right as Calvin had started rinsing out his cereal bowl, let a clear canine equivalent of a smug smirk come on his face as if silently saying 'you bet'.

Calvin's mother nodded her head. "Calvin, your father and I have been living with you and your Autism for nearly 11 years now. If there's anything about you and your behavior left to surprise us, we haven't seen it yet." She smiled, her dark eyes agleam. "We can tell how you feel without even needing to hear you speak just by seeing what your body's saying. And since today's otherwise an ordinary Monday early in the current school year, it's obvious that whatever you're so excited about has something to do with you, Hobbes, and Susan, attending your first official meetings with the glee club after joining it last Friday."

Calvin thought to himself, and then nodded, shrugging his shoulders in acknowledgement. After all, he'd been diagnosed at age 5 with Autism. And over the course of the 10-11 years that had followed this diagnosis, his life had been understandably difficult. In fact, it was only thanks to his family, Hobbes, and his very close (not to mention _only_ ) friend his age, Susan Caraway, that he'd gotten as far as he currently had. "Fair enough," he admitted.

Hobbes snorted, his tone making it seem very much like an attempt at a chuckle.

Gerald ate the last of his toast, stretched his hands in the air, and let out a slight yawn. "Well son," he said. "I'll definitely say this; I hope you and Hobbes have as good of a day today as you currently think it's going to be." He got up from the table and walked towards the entrance to the living room. "But remember, if any situations arise, try not to let Hobbes get too banged up. I've already got enough pets to deal with at the vet's office these days."

Calvin chuckled. "I'll try my best." He looked over at Hobbes with a smug grin on his face. "But just how well I'll do at keeping it is gonna depend just as much on Hobbes as it will on me."

Hobbes directed an irritated canine glare at his master, rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue in a rather petulant manner. Calvin couldn't help but chuckle at the rather puppyish way his dog had just behaved.

"Just make sure you do your part, and whether Hobbes holds his part is up to him."

Calvin's father paused long enough to give his wife a kiss, and then he departed from the kitchen. "See you later honey."

"Bye," said Calvin's mother, a smile on her face, and with a wave of her hand. "Have a good day at the vets'!"

"Tell them Hobbes said hi!" yelled Calvin.

"I'll try," responded Gerald.

The second Gerald was out of sight and earshot, Mallory directed an amused look at her son once more. "You just always have to say that, don't you?"

Calvin chuckled. "You know me mom. That's just how I roll."

Hobbes barked twice in a clear canine means of saying 'here, here'.

Calvin's mother chuckled, and rolled her eyes in mock annoyance once more. She took a final sip of her tea. "So it is." She looked up at the nearby clock. "Well, it's 7:00 now." She turned her head back to her son. "You should still have enough time to give Hobbes a quick walk around the neighborhood."

Calvin smiled. "Sounds like a plan." He looked at Hobbes. "Come on boy!"

Hobbes barked once in apparent happiness, and eagerly followed Calvin as the boy left the kitchen and made his way to the front door of the Martenson household.

"Just make sure you get back with enough time to brush your teeth and do all your other preparations!"

"Don't worry mom!" said Calvin as he and Hobbes walked out the door. "I will. I always do! Come on Hobbes." Hobbes exited the door, and Calvin closed it.

Calvin's mother chuckled, and shook her head side to side, a sentimental sigh escaping her lips. "Indeed you do," she said in agreement with her son. She nodded her head. "Here's me hoping that today is as good of a day as Calvin currently expects it to be." She looked over at a small framed photograph on the wall of herself, Gerald, Calvin, and Hobbes, with the equally happy addition of Susan. She smiled warmly as she gazed at the photo. "And knowing Susan, I'm sure she's just as excited as my sweet little boy."

. . . . .

At the Caraway household, Susan was indeed exactly as excited as her autistic friend from down the street. Fortunately, unlike how Calvin had resorted to briefly engaging in a more animalistic style of eating his Honey Bunches of Oats, she was able to eat the entirety of her bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch in a far calmer manner. But even so, despite how careful she was in eating her cereal, she still showed just enough outward signs of her excitement for the day to allow her parents to catch on.

Her mother Samantha was the first to comment. "You seem rather chipper this morning."

Susan chuckled, picking up her now empty bowl and carrying it over to the kitchen sink. "Hard not to be," she admitted. "Especially considering the club I joined last Friday that's having its first official meetings for the year today."

"I can imagine," said Susan's father, Dominic. "For starters, this is the only club you and Calvin acquired membership of this year that you haven't already participated in before."

Susan turned her head from the bowl she was now rinsing out at the sink. "Really?"

"Yep." Mr. Caraway nodded his head. "For the last two years, you and Calvin were in the animal welfare club. You're in that club again this year. You and Calvin were in the book club for the last two years. You're in _that_ club again this year. But the glee club?" He shook his head. "This is your first year as a member of that club. New waters for you two." He turned his head to properly face his daughter once more. "Anybody would be excited with those kinds of circumstances."

Ms. Caraway chuckled. "You can say that again." She looked back at her daughter. "Not to mention sweetie, I'm sure you and Calvin will find plenty of new friends amongst the other 11 students you say got in alongside you."

Susan chuckled, shook her head side to side, and returned her attention to the bowel she was rinsing. "We'll see mom."

"And it will be especially nice if any of the boys in that club alongside you and Calvin turn out to be just as nice as him," her father added. His eyes then narrowed in a brief flash of anger and annoyance. "God knows how you don't need any more of those dirty self-righteous pigs like Miles Surette and all those other future rapists amongst the McKinley High jocks on your heels."

Susan sighed upon hearing her father mention that one little detail. Admittedly, a tiny part of her was flattered that there were so many boys that seemed to find her attractive. Quite frankly, even she could admit that just by looking in the mirror. But she wasn't like one of those vain and self-obsessed girls that treated their appearance like their life blood and enjoyed being the center of attention for so many fawning and drooling boys. She wasn't even a member of the McKinley High cheerleading squad (or as everyone at McKinley High liked to call them, the Cheerios), and yet her beauty alone had earned her one of the highest-ranking spots on the school's unspoken girl popularity list. This, much to her annoyance, as well as that of Calvin, his therapy dog Hobbes, and her close gal pal Diana, had resulted in a very uncomfortably large number of boys being willing to try their luck at winning her over, with one particularly persistent admirer of hers being a sophomore linebacker on the McKinley High football team named Miles Surette.

"I'm still surprised that you know so much about that little detail," she commented.

"It really shouldn't be a surprise that I know about those morons and what they think and feel about you Susan." Dominic sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance as he thought of another detail. "After all, I'm the one who has to deal with their idiot fathers bragging about it at work." He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and exhaled, trying his best to keep himself calm despite this very annoying detail about his coworkers at the office he worked at. "Really, I'm getting quite sick of hearing them crowing and hooting about how their sons objectify you and act like you're some toy to be played with, or goddess to be worshipped, or prize to be won. . ."

Samantha placed her hand on her husband's. "Now, now Dominic," she said. "It's ok to get annoyed by that. And even so, you don't have to worry too much about all that." She directed a smile towards their daughter. "After all, she can take care of herself pretty well; and she also has Calvin and Hobbes around to keep her safe. And from what we've heard and seen over the last two years, those two have proven quite an effective discouragement against those thugs trying to get too far with her."

Dominic sighed. "I know that honey." He lifted his head. "But Calvin or no Calvin, she's still my daughter. And as her father, it's my unspoken duty to be worried about her safety; and especially in matters of those slimy little. . ."

"Dad."

Dominic and Samantha turned their heads in time to see their daughter, now finished with her rinsing and shaking her head side to side at their little discussion. "I get it dad, Calvin and I are just as annoyed with all those morons fawning over me as you are." She walked back to the table and gave her father a hug. "But trust me dad," she said. "I'll be fine. There's no need to worry."

Her father sighed, a sentimental look in his eyes. "That's when I worry the most," he said wistfully. But nonetheless, he returned his daughter's embrace.

When the father and daughter finally let go of each other, Susan paused just long enough to give her father a kiss on the cheek before she proceeded to rush out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. "I'm just gonna make a few final checks and preparations," she called as she started up the stairs. "I'll be right back down and ready by 7:30."

"I'll be waiting," said her mother.

Once Susan had reached the top of the stairs and left sight and earshot of her parents, Samantha looked over at her husband, who was still looking in the direction of the stairs with a half wistful and half protective look on his face. "She'll be fine Dominic."

Dominic sighed, and shook his head side to side. "I hope so dear." He nodded his head. "I hope so."

Samantha chuckled. "Come on honey, lighten up a little. Calvin already borderline smothers her enough. Besides, out of all the guys we've known to try their luck with her, none of them has ever been one of those guys who's always checking out every pretty girl that moves and gathering up a mass list of sexual activity under his belt. Not even Miles Surette is that kind of boy."

Dominic chuckled nervously upon hearing all this. "Yep," he admitted. "There is that small mercy I guess." He shook his head side to side, mentally shuddering. "God forbid she ever have to deal with one of _those_."

. . . . .

Anthony Skinner was not in the best of moods. And while he'd received no direct confirmation of any sort just yet, he had a very strong feeling that his son, Zach, was to blame. He lifted his phone to his face, his eyes narrowing in annoyance as he once again checked the messages that he knew, for a _fact_ , should not have been on his phone, yet had inexplicably ended up there anyway the previous night. And judging by how three of them were from Zach and every single one of the others were from numbers he did not recognize at all (but were obviously sent by teenage girls if the dialogue within them was anything to go by), he could already tell exactly what had happened.

He sighed. "Zach," he thought to himself. "What am I going to do with you?"

Unlike most boys, Zach had liked girls all the way in elementary school, a time where most other boys would be in the 'cooties paranoia' phase. And over time, that attraction, combined with his outward appearance, had developed to the point that he'd started to become what seemed to be quite the ladies' man as early as Freshman year in high school. This detail, in and of itself, was not necessarily a bad thing. What was a bad thing, however, was just how far Zach was taking the status and how relatively little responsibility he was applying to his behavior. And as a result of this irresponsibility, he was going so far as to spend ungodly amounts of time out partying at night, screw and pursue just about any attractive girl that moved, and get himself and whatever female companions had caught his fancy for a night so drunk as to drunkenly send inappropriate texts to sometimes hilariously and sometimes very horridly not so hilariously to unintended targets. And in this case, as he'd found very glaringly clear on his phone, such an incident had happened again the previous night.

He sighed, and rolled his eyes up to Heaven. "All the guys in my class, and I'm the one who got the teenage nightmare for a son." He sighed again. "God help me."

"Hey dad!"

Anthony turned his head and stared blankly at the sight of none other than Zach himself standing in the nearby entrance from the living room to the kitchen. "Good morning."

Zach chuckled, and shook his head side to side with a cheeky grin still on his face. "Come on dad," said Zach as he entered the kitchen and started digging around in some nearby cabinets. "No need to be dull in the morning at this kind of time. Let yourself a loose a little."

His father was not amused, and he extended his arm out so that Zach could get a good look at his phone. "Hard to do when _this_ is what greets me when I wake up."

Zach looked over in his father's direction, his face briefly falling upon catching sight of what was on the screen of his dad's phone, and then shrugged. "No big deal. Probably some drunk loon dialing the wrong number. It happens."

"Indeed," his father admitted. "But not usually 100 or more times in a row to the same person."

Zach paused, clearly aware of the point his dad had brought up. "An odd and very suspicious coincidence."

"Three of them came from _you_."

Zach's pause after this comment was noticeably longer. After a full three minutes of no response from Zach, his father shook his head, sighing in fatigue. "Son," he began. "Listen. I know you enjoy having a good bit of free time every now and then. But stuff like this? Surely you understand how concerned I am about how you will be able to live a decent and socially acceptable life if you keep behaving so irresponsibly with all these parties, drinks, fights, and girls."

Zach sighed. "Look dad, I get it. Last night? That was stupid, and could have been avoided. . ."

"You think?"

Anthony put down his phone and pointed his finger at Zach. "I'd already had a feeling you weren't telling the truth last night when you said you would be hanging out with Daniel. But even that wasn't enough to prepare me for getting all these drunken texts from you and your myriad partners from last night; and if you think that I didn't hear the noises you made when you came back home last night while your mother and I were asleep, and 10 minutes past midnight curfew to boot, you are sadly mistaken."

Zach sighed. "Look dad, I get that you're upset. And I'm sorry." He looked away from his dad, reached back into the cabinet he'd been rummaging through, and drew out a box of Pop tarts. He removed one of the pop tarts from the box, put the box away, and unwrapped it. He took a bite and started chewing. "One day or another, I'm sure to get my act together."

"I shudder to think of how long it will take and what you'll do in the remaining time to unfold before that moment occurs."

Anthony directed a meaningful look at the pop tart his son was eating. "Do you really think that's the best choice of food for breakfast this morning?"

"Dad," Zach explained calmly. "Basketball practices don't start for another week or two, and the games are likewise a good bit of time away. I can afford to eat just one pop tart this morning."

His dad raised an eyebrow. "If you say so."

Zach chuckled, and took another bite of his pop tart. "Besides," he continued. "As irresponsible as I am, I'm not nearly as bad as I could be."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," said Zach. "I've never gotten _too_ drunk, just drunk enough to feel the effects without losing myself entirely. I've experimented too determine the exact moment I can safely drink."

His father sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"And furthermore," Zack continued. "Regardless of whether I'm drunk at the time or not, I've always treated every girl with the utmost respect. And in the event that we do the deed, it's always done with mutual consent on both sides. And I've always made sure to be extra careful when doing it all to. I've certainly never gotten anyone pregnant yet; that's for sure."

Anthony sighed. "Yes; keyword being _yet_."

"And besides," Zack continued. "Irresponsible or not, at least I've got good grades and a promising looking GPA to keep me afloat."

"Yes, that is true," his father admitted. "Though how you're able to keep that and balance it between your basketball and other . . . activities . . . is a mystery I'd very much love to solve."

Zach just chuckled in response to this. "Like I said, everything's fine."

"It's gonna take a lot more than your say so to convince me of that son."

Anthony sighed. "Look, I know things could be worse in your regard right now. I'll admit that." He shook his head. "But the way you're currently behaving? That's got to stop. I didn't raise you to be this irresponsible, and as much of a fan you currently are of Noah and Jacob Puckerman, I don't want to see you become too much like them; and especially not too much like the former."

"Come on dad," said Zach. "Don't be such a worry wort. Like I said, I've never gotten anyone pregnant. I've also never gone to juvie, and I have a decent academic standing. And besides," he chuckled, "you were actually a lot like me as I currently am when you were my age."

"Not entirely true."

"Enlighten me."

"Well for starters," Anthony began. "I wasn't going around screwing just about every attractive girl that moved, I wasn't going out of my way to pick a fight with every guy willing to do battle with me, I never got myself wasted on alcohol, never partied as late in the night as you do, and I specifically waited until I was both 16 and had a steady girlfriend before I ever _considered_ giving away my virginity to someone, and that girl turned out to be your mother. And when that moment occurred, we were both willing and careful."

"All of my sexual encounters have been consensual," Zach responded. His dad rolled his eyes to Heaven, and Zach winced. "Sorry," he said.

"The point is," Anthony responded with a now noticeably tight voice. "As much of a ladies' man as I was when I was your age, I at least was able to be properly responsible about it. And with how wildly different from me and irresponsibly you're currently behaving, I'm worried about how you'll turn out to be in life." He picked his newspaper back up and waved it in the air to emphasize a point. "Even today, I still wake up every morning fearing that I'll someday wake up to learn that you killed or raped somebody and that an article describing that very news will be right on the front page of my morning paper."

Zach thought to himself, sighed, finished his pop tart, and took a seat in front of his father. "Dad," he began. "I understand you're worried. Honest, I do. But please just trust me on this. I'll be fine. Sooner or later, I'll get my act together. And I will never kill or rape anybody. As irresponsible as I am, I'll never go that far down. Never. Not even close."

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes dad, I am."

"And if I turn out to be right?"

Zach sighed, but conceded the point anyway. "Then I'll admit that I was wrong, that you told me so, and accept whatever punishment you and mom see fit."

Anthony continued to direct a meaningful look at his son for a while, but then eventually sighed and nodded his head. "If you say so."

"Thank you."

"Did I miss anything?"

Zach smiled, and turned his head. "Not at all mom. Dad and I were just having a little chat."

Anthony sighed, and looked over in the direction of his wife. "You could say that," he admitted.

Cleo Skinner, an African American much like her husband and son, smiled and chuckled, shaking her head side to side. "Well that's a relief. It's very rare these days for you two to start the day without some sort of discussion of worry over the quote on quote irresponsibility Zach demonstrates these days."

Both Zach and Anthony nervously chuckled upon hearing this. "Oh you missed it by _that_ much," they both thought to themselves.

. . . . .

Horace Thornton, much like Anthony Skinner, was not entirely in the best of moods that morning. And just like how Anthony's mood that morning had been the result of his son's behavior, Horace's current mood was very much a result of the behavior of his eldest daughter, Charlotte. He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth behind his newspaper at the thought. "She was just as sweet as Tammie when she was younger," he thought to himself wistfully. He shook his head. "What happened to that sweet girl I used to know?"

"You're awfully quiet today daddio."

Horace gritted his teeth once more and lifted his eyes up to Heaven upon hearing this. As his luck would have it, the very person responsible for his current mood was also at the table, and was seated right in front of him. He directed a glaring eye towards Charlotte, who was at that very moment dining happily on the first of three Pillsbury strudels she had on her plate with a happy smile on her face and a likewise happy gleam in her blue eyes that quite elegantly matched with her long ash blonde hair.

Horace took a deep breath, and quietly exhaled, trying his best to keep calm. After all, his other daughter, Tamara, now 12 years old, was also at the table. And he did not want to make a scene in front of her. He lowered his newspaper, a blank look on his face and dark eyes. "I apologize for my silence. I didn't want to interrupt your breakfast and simultaneous thoughts about your newest efforts at getting that poor Taymor boy wrapped around your finger."

Charlotte's face took on a clear look of annoyance at the sound of the last few words, and she lowered her still ¾ eaten strudel. "Dad, do we really need to have this discussion again?" She pointed at her younger sister, who was still peacefully eating her serving of Fruit Loops cereal, seemingly quite oblivious to the conversation going on between her father and sister. "Tamara's right at the table with us."

Tamara lifted her head upon hearing her name. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," said Horace, waving his hand. "This is between me and your sis."

"Ok daddy."

Tamara resumed her eating, and Horace looked back at Charlotte. "Why do you think I'm being so calm right now?"

Charlotte sighed, gobbled up the last of her first strudel, and started work on eating her 2nd one. "Dad please," she began with her mouth still full. "You don't need to get so worried and uptight over this matter. Everything's fine."

"I've received numerous complaints from the boy's parents, and from their neighbors the Eberharts, that say otherwise."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "They'll come around."

"You said that last year," her father responded bluntly. "And the year before that to."

Charlotte groaned, took another large bite of her 2nd strudel, and took the time to chew and swallow it before she responded. "Look dad, I get that you're worried. But really, you're being paranoid."

"So you're not still trying to find ways to sink your hooks into that poor boy?"

Charlotte was about to respond, but then paused, having just realized what her father had said seconds before she was about to give her response.

The pause lasted just long enough, and Horace shook his head side to side. "Just let it go Charlotte. You've put the poor boy through enough; and with how long you've been at this and all the complaints I've received, I'd say he's made it quite clear that he doesn't feel that way for you, and quite frankly never will."

Charlotte sighed. "Dad please," she began patiently. "Everything will be fine. I'm sure of it. Daniel just needs a push in the right direction."

"You keep saying that," said her father. "You've been trying everything you could think of so far to give him that push, and nothing's worked." He shook his head. "And not only have none of your attempts worked, but I'm quite certain that, assuming he's even still single right now, he'd probably be far more likely to choose the Eberhart girl over you."

Charlotte briefly clenched her fists. It took all her willpower to remain calm upon hearing her father mention the other girl that had become an obvious rival for her affections. "Like I said; Daniel just needs a push in the right direction." She looked down at her strudel, exhaled, and finished her second strudel. "I'm not giving up just because he's proven this dense and has another girl in his sights. I'm bound to think of something that will work at some point or other."

"That's another thing." Horace sighed, shaking his head side to side. "All the stuff you've done that hasn't worked? Look, I'll admit, your earlier ideas were perfectly natural and socially acceptable. But the ideas you've come up with over the last few months and years that have followed those earlier attempts? Color me suspicious, but don't you think you're starting to get a little too extreme?"

Charlotte lowered her now half eaten 3rd strudel. "Please," she said. "There's no such thing."

"I beg to differ."

Charlotte sighed. "Come on dad, can't you at least give me points for dedication?"

"There's a big difference between showing dedication and being a stalker." Horace shook his head, sighing once more. "And quite frankly, I'd say your current behavior in regard to the Taymor boy is far more associable with the latter. Honestly, if your genders were reversed, I'm sure that the Taymor boy would have already filed a restraining order against you by now. And I'm not entirely confident that his family won't do that eventually if you don't stop going after their son like this."

Charlotte took a 3rd bite of her remaining strudel, leaving only about ¼ of it uneaten. "Don't be such a worry wort dad, things couldn't possibly get _that_ bad." She turned her head to face Tamara, a happy smile on her face. "Right sis?"

Tamara lifted her head from her now nearly empty cereal bowl, a smile of her own on her face. "Right."

"Charlotte," said Horace. "Tamara will agree with you on _anything_ , regardless of whether its good or bad." He waved his hand in a non-indicative fashion. "Honestly, you could say that blacks are evolutionarily hardwired to be literally brainless idiots who don't have the intelligence needed to even be able to breath, and she'd agree with you."

Charlotte, who had just been about to finish off her last strudel, lowered it back down to her plate, an annoyed glare on her face. "Really dad? You know I don't think that."

Horace's shoulders slumped, and he glared right back at his eldest daughter. "That's not the point. Come on Charlotte, what's it going to take to get you to stop this senseless crusade?"

At that moment, none other than Horace's wife, and Charlotte and Tamara's mother, Cassandra Thornton, entered the kitchen, a proud smile on her face. "Her dead body, that's what."

Charlotte turned her head, a happy grin on her face showing all her teeth. "Why thank you mother. Your support is most appreciated."

Tamara lifted her head with a happy look of her own. "Hi mommy."

Horace turned his head to face his wife, an understandably aggrieved look on his own face. "Don't encourage her Cassie."

Cassandra, a blonde much like her daughters, chuckled, her blue eyes agleam, and walked on over to the fridge. "Why not? Lord knows how hard she's been working to win that dashing piece of eye candy over."

"I know, right?" Charlotte asked.

Horace groaned, clenching his right hand around his short brown hair, trying his best not to lose his cool and tear his hair right off his scalp. "Honey, I am perfectly well aware of how hard she's been working, and that very factor is what's got me so worried right now."

Cassandra chuckled once more, and closed the fridge, a bag of bagels in her hands. "Don't listen to him sweetie," she said to Charlotte. "He's just jealous that you're no longer that sweet little elementary school girl he used to have all the attention from."

Horace lowered his hand from his hair, his eyes narrowed at his wife in annoyance. "That is not true. And you know it."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that dad."

Charlotte finished her strudel, dusted her hands, and took her empty plate to the sink. She turned from the sink and walked right behind her mother as she exited the kitchen and started going back upstairs to finish her preparations for school. "I'll be out of the house by 7:30 mom."

"Good to know sweetie," said Cassandra, who was now busy watching the toaster for when her bagel popped out.

At that moment, Tamara, having finished her own breakfast, walked up to the sink, rinsed it out, and placed it in the sink alongside her sister's plate. She walked over to her mother and gave her a hug around her waist. Cassandra smiled, and returned her younger daughter's embrace.

"Love you mommy."

"Love you to sweetheart," said Cassandra.

The young girl and her mother let go of each other. Then Tamara ran off in the same direction her sister had taken. "I'll be ready to go by 7:30 mom."

"I'll be waiting," said Cassandra as she watched her other daughter go. Smile still on her face, she turned to face her husband, who still looked mildly annoyed. She chuckled. "Come on Horace. You know you can't shelter them under your wings forever."

Horace sighed. "I know that honey." He gestured off in the direction of the stairs. "But seriously Cassie, are you not at all worried about the lengths Charlotte's going to? Considering what you were like when we were her age, and what all the other blood related women in your family have been like, don't you think that boy has suffered enough?"

Cassandra chuckled, and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "You worry too much."

"And you don't worry enough."

Cassandra chuckled again. At that moment, her bagel popped out of the toaster. She put it on her plate, spread cream cheese on it, and joined her husband at the table, positioning herself on the very chair their eldest daughter had been sitting at before. "Come on Horace," she said. "There's really no need to be so worried about her." She directed another look of pride towards the staircase. "Like mother, like daughter."

Horace sighed. "You're a special case dear."

"Oh please," said Cassandra. Admittedly, she did feel somewhat flattered by the statement, but that was hardly the point right now. "She'll be fine Horace. And besides, you know what I was like back then better than anyone. Trust me, things couldn't possibly get too bad where she's concerned. They didn't get that far with me, and all the other women of my family have never gotten nearly as extreme as you make them out to be."

Horace directed a half annoyed and half amused glare at his wife. "Honey," he stated. "You know that's not 100% true."

"Mom!" Charlotte yelled from upstairs. "Have you seen my hair dryer?"

"Coming Charlotte!"

Cassandra directed another meaningful, but warm, look at her still concerned looking husband. "Trust me Horace, everything will be fine." She got up from her chair, leaving her still uneaten bagel at her place for when she returned from helping Charlotte find her hairdryer. "Honestly, you should be proud of her." She turned around and left the kitchen to go upstairs and assist Charlotte. "She's got the Lothar blood flowing through her veins just as strongly as her mother." She reached the bottom of the stairs and ascended them.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, almost immediately after his wife reached the top of the stairs and left his sight, Horace sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of," he said softly to himself. He sighed. "What did I do to deserve this?" he asked half to himself and half to what he hoped to be God listening in Heaven from above. "Here I am, one of the nicest guys amongst the jocks in my class." He directed his eyes towards the ceiling in an annoyed glare. "Heck, I was one of the nicest guys in my class, period." He shook his head side to side. "And I'm the one who got a teenage nightmare for a daughter." He hung his head, sighing once more at both what Charlotte had turned out to be and the fact that Tamara herself had the potential to be very similar when she reached Charlotte's current age. "Why me?"

. . . . .

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, another family that was having breakfast consisted of all its members being in a good mood. The most excited of the three, however, was the young son in the family, an albino boy who was currently quite heartily eating one of two bagels topped with strawberry cream cheese. He chewed hungrily, his red eyes agleam with anticipation. "This is only my first full week of my sophomore year, and I'm excited already." He finished the first half of his first bagel, and set to work on the 2nd half. "This is gonna be the best year ever."

"Nice to see you in such a good mood this morning son."

The boy chuckled, and took another bite from his bagel. "You can say that again mom."

"No kidding." The speaker, the boy's dad, chuckled. "I told you that the presence of that McCrimmon boy in the same school as him would improve things for him, didn't I Steph?"

Stephanie Carmichael chuckled, and tossed her dark hair over her shoulder, dark eyes agleam. "You sure did Jackson." She looked over at their albino son, who was still in the midst of eating his bagels. "Something tells me though that Darren's still being in the same school as him for sophomore year isn't the only reason for the current mood. Isn't that right Dunlap?"

Dunlap Carmichael smiled, and swallowed the last bite of his 1st bagel. "You've got that right mom." He picked up the 1st half of his 2nd bagel and took a bite out of it. "Today's my first official day in the New Directions. I'm excited already."

"Be surprised if you weren't son." Jackson Carmichael chuckled, and took another bite out of his Jimmy Dean egg and cheese sausage biscuit. "You're in a club. You've got your three closest friends in there with you. There's about 9 or so other students in there who could yet become equally good friends of you lot. You've now got an opportunity to showcase your fantastic singing ability from the talent show two years ago once again. And it's only your sophomore year. Who wouldn't be excited in your shoes?"

"Now that's a good question."

Dunlap finished the 1st half of his 2nd bagel, and proceeded to start eating the 2nd half. "Can't wait."

"No kidding."

Jackson finished his breakfast, smoothed out the creases on the front of his suit, and got up from his chair. "Best hurry up and make the last of my preparations. Don't want to miss the bus this morning."

Stephanie smiled. "Busy day at the firm today huh?"

"You can say that." And indeed, it would be a busy day. In fact, it usually often was every day considering Jackson Carmichael's occupation. To elaborate, he was a powerful and heavily acclaimed lawyer who spoke for the rights of the social outcasts and the disabled. With his son having been born an albino and had his legs amputated and replaced with metallic prosthetics at age 10, it was quite understandable just how capable of properly defending and supporting his cases. Jackson departed from the kitchen, the light from the ceiling lamps gleaming off his golden hair. "I'll be right back down," he said as he proceeded up the stairs.

Stephanie chuckled, shaking her head side to side. She looked over at Dunlap, who was now very close to finishing his own breakfast. "You ready son?"

Dunlap chuckled, and took another bite out of what remained of his breakfast. "Is the pope catholic?"

"That answers that." Stephanie sighed, and brushed her fingers through her hair. "You think Naomi, Darren, and Amber are anywhere near as excited as you are?"

"Need you ask?" Dunlap placed the last of his bagel in his mouth, chewed on it, and swallowed it. "I know, for a _fact_ , that they most definitely are."

. . . . .

Much as Dunlap had predicted, Naomi Bright was indeed excited for what was to happen that day. She could barely keep herself contained as she carefully dined on her butter topped English muffin as excitedly as her eyesight would allow. She had been born blind, and had spent the entirety of her life since struggling to make do with her life as best as she could. She unconsciously reached behind her chair and absent mindedly stroked the long red handled white cane leaning up against the back of the chair near her shoulder. She'd first started using a cane to walk in 1st grade. Admittedly, the cane from 1st grade had been much smaller, and she had graduated to longer and taller canes as she'd grown progressively older and bigger herself. She took a deep breath, and exhaled in content. She valued that cane with her life, and she would never willingly go anywhere without it. And with her condition, who could blame her?

"You ok sweetie?"

Naomi looked up in the direction she'd heard this voice, and felt a small smile come on her face as she saw a familiar blur standing nearby that she recognized as her mother. "I'm ok mom," replied Naomi. She nodded her head. "It's just the beginning of my first official week of school this term. You know how that feels."

Madison Bright nodded her head, walked over to the table, and sat down right next to her daughter. She sighed, stroked her daughter comfortingly on the head, noting with pride once more how they shared the same coppery red hair. "Look Naomi," she said. "I know you're still nervous about being at the same school as Aaron Blonsky."

Naomi shuddered. "Please mom," she said. "Don't say his name."

Madison sighed. "I know it's painful to think of sweetie." She nodded her head. "Believe me, if I had any idea where that monster lived, I'd have so given him what for by now."

"You'd have to get in line dear."

Madison and Naomi turned their heads, and saw a tall and athletic man with blonde hair, a slight stubble of the same color, and the same blue eyes as Naomi; albeit, his eyes were much less opaque in shade. This man was Joseph Bright, Madison's husband, and Naomi's father. He interlocked his fingers together and flexed his hands outward, clearly indicating that he meant business. "If that bastard hadn't been smart enough to have never taken you to his own house and allowed you to figure out his home address, I'd have personally introduced myself to him." He clenched and lifted his right fist, his teeth gritted in a snarl. "With my fists."

Madison sighed, and shook her head side to side. Her husband just loved to solve problems with his fists. Granted, she couldn't entirely criticize him for that. After all, when she and Joseph had been students at McKinley High themselves, he had been the undisputed and undefeatable champion in the McKinley High boxing club from Freshman year all the way to graduation day. In fact, due to how much prowess he'd proven himself to have over the course of his entire high school years lasting boxing career, he'd come to be nicknamed 'Joseph the Juggernaut'. In fact, he still had just the right build for boxing, and in fact even looked like he could be a very convincing biker. Of course, nowadays he was a banker rather than a boxer or biker. But even so, his boxing days had left the lasting knowledge that sometimes the easiest and most satisfying way to solve a problem was to use your fists, and often felt uncomfortable and out of his depth whenever he encountered a problem that he couldn't solve in this fashion. And she knew how much it pained him to not have the information he felt that he so desperately needed to know.

Naomi still slightly in a daze over the bringing up of the boy her mother had brought up, shuddered once more. The boy in question, Aaron Blonsky, had spent three months of her freshman year, his sophomore year, as her boyfriend. To be fair, he'd at first seemed like the nicest and sweetest of guys who wouldn't hurt a fly. But of course, that's how all such boys seemed to be in the stories that she knew of similar experiences. And besides, considering his position on the McKinley High hockey team, it probably would have been too much to ask for him to be anything but a 100% harmless nice guy. And as it had turned out, about a month after they'd become a couple, with some influence from his friend and fellow hockey player, Marcus Wayland, Blonsky had eventually cast aside his façade and shown his true colors to horrific effect.

At first, the change in behavior had become with scary (albeit, relatively harmless) pranks and a few insensitive jokes and similar comments. Then, over time, things had gotten infinitely worse. Blonsky had gone so far as to become increasingly cruel, mean spirited, and just plain despicable. To elaborate, he'd gone so far as to start placing nails and shards of broken glass on areas where her hands would hopefully, leaving skateboards and other objects on the floor that she could easily slip on or trip over, spilling water, oil, and other slippery liquids and substances onto areas she'd walk through in unavoidably large puddles to make her slip, shining a spotlight in her face at maximum brightness every time she entered a room with him after returning from doing something else, and one time even tripping her into falling down an entire considerably large flight of stairs.

His worst action of all, however, that had finally ended their relationship for good, had been one so inhumanly vile that Naomi, her parents, and her friends all viewed it quite frankly to be a miracle that the boy hadn't yet been punished in some way at all by his own family. It had all started with her accompanying him to a party being held at the house of the hockey captain, Becket Nelson. Despite all that she'd endured before that one horrible night, she'd been fooled into thinking that perhaps today things wouldn't be so bad by what she should have known to be an unnervingly uncharacteristic spate of kind and nice behavior before the party had started. But then, one full hour after she and Aaron had arrived at the party, Blonsky had done an action so appallingly cruel and heinous that it had taken her weeks afterward to recover from the horror and psychological trauma that had ensued.

At the time, she had been at a counter (that was thankfully free of nails, broken glass, and similar sharp objects) helping herself to some doughnuts available, and had happened to let go of her cane and leave it leaning next to her by the counter for about a minute or two. But when she'd finished her doughnuts and reached for her cane, she had discovered to great horror that it had somehow vanished from the position it had been in when she'd let go of it. Blonsky had snatched it away while she'd been busy eating and had taken the time to hide it somewhere.

No sooner had she discovered that her cane was missing, when she'd found herself forced to blindly start wandering around in terror, scrambling and likewise desperately trying to find it, all while under the nonexistent mercy of Blonsky and a vast number of his hockey team mates. Thankfully, none of them had hit her or similarly subjected her to physical pain. However, they had all instead resorted to calling her horrific, demeaning, and just plain dehumanizing names that made it quite frankly a miracle that she'd been able to keep herself from bursting out crying, or worse, curling into a ball and resigning herself to being subjected to the horrific torture. After about three hours of this, she had finally managed to find her cane. At that point, Blonsky and his friends had clearly not been expecting her to find it, as she had managed to then use it like a sword or club and take them all out with her cane before then running out of the house and as far away from it as she could. After about an hour sitting in a local park near her house and far, far away from Becket's, she'd finally managed to shakily dig her cell phone out of her pants pocket and call Dunlap Carmichael, an especially good friend of hers, and inform him of her plight and what had happened. And the rest, from that point onward, had been history. And as a seemingly minor detail, she even now refused to even touch a doughnut, let alone eat one.

Needless to say, Joseph 'the Juggernaut' Bright was even now still in terrible pain from suffering the agony of knowing just what Aaron Blonsky had done and yet being unable to do anything about it due to not even knowing where the slimy miscreant even lived. Joseph sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched his nose. "God I wish I could do _something_ to make that filthy son of a bitch pay for all that unspeakable horror he put you through Naomi."

"Dad, it's fine."

"No it's not." Joseph sighed. "I know you're still afraid of him Naomi, I know that Amber's still giving you good support because of her own experiences with the Wayland bastard, and I know that Dunlap and Darren are doing an especially good job at keeping those two punks off your tails. But it's been months since you broke things off with him, and his family and the legal system still haven't done squat."

"These things take time dear," said Madison.

"Not this long." Joseph sighed. "Even I know that the legal system doesn't take _this_ long to handle a case like this. Clearly, either they don't care, or word of his actions _still_ hasn't spread to his family and the law." He turned his head, growled, and abruptly punched the door of a nearby cabinet, leaving a respectably sized hole in it where his fist struck. "God curse me, why is that punk still breathing free air?!" He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and exhaled, clearly fighting to calm himself back down. He sighed. "Look, I get it. I know I'm getting overly stressed out about all this, but surely you understand the problems I'm dealing with here."

Naomi and Madison nodded, their faces clearly showing how they both understood all too well in their own way. Joseph sighed. "Naomi, just promise me at least that you'll try to both maintain good friendships with Dunlap, Amber, and Darren, and see if you and them can find any additional good friends amongst the other members of that club you joined. Ok?"

Naomi smiled. This was something she knew that she could do for her dad. After all, considering the club's reputation and how many celebrities had turned out to be among its members over its entire existence, how hard would it be for her and her companions to find new friends amongst fellow members? "Don't you worry daddy," said the blind ginger haired girl. "I promise."

. . . . .

Darren McCrimmon was hard at work in heartily devouring his serving of French toast. The tasty breakfast dish, which he had applied a generous serving of syrup upon, was not faring well against him at all. In fact, if he'd been eating it any more quickly, the syrup would likely have splattered all over his mouth like blood.

"Goodness gracious Darren, I'm not sure if I've ever seen you eat French toast this quickly before. And considering it's your favorite breakfast dish, that's saying something."

Darren turned his head to his right, a slight sheepish expression coming on his face as he saw his mother sitting at the table alongside him shaking her head side to side with an amused look on her face. He chuckled nervously and scratched his fingers through his matted ginger hair. "Sorry mom."

Natasha McCrimmon, a redhead much like her son, chuckled, and shook her head side to side once more. "I must admit," she said. "The closest I've ever seen you behave like this was your first day of Freshman year."

Darren chuckled back and shook his own head side to side. "History just loves to repeat itself I guess."

"Well it would certainly make sense for it to do such this time," said a voice from outside the kitchen that had a clear Scottish accent to it. Darren and his mother looked in the direction the voice came from, and they both smiled at the sight of a familiar man with dark hair and blue eyes. This man, Aaron McCrimmon, was Natasha's husband, and Darren's father. He chuckled. "After all, considering how our son's now in that jolly little glee club alongside Dunlap, the two lasses, and 9 other lads and lasses that could yet become good comrades of his, why should he not be excited?"

Darren chuckled, his eyes agleam with agreement and pride. These same eyes were blue like his father's. Of course, at first glance, absolutely no one would have guessed as such. At the same time though, people would have almost certainly figured that they would be either that color or some other natural human eye color. After all, despite how there had been some real-life people who had been seen to have natural gold toned eyes, no known human alive had ever had yellow eyes, let alone in the almost cat-like shade that Darren's eyes appeared to be.

While most young children would have found it very unnerving to see someone with yellow eyes, Darren had been very intrigued by the way such eyes looked since he was 7-years old. Thus, at around what should have been his 5th grade year in school, he had taken to wearing amber yellow contact lenses virtually all the time. In fact, the only times he ever took them off and allowed his natural blue eyes to show were when he washed up, showered, slept, or likewise deemed it necessary to take them out. And even with them on, he could see perfectly fine.

Of course, acquiring them had proven one of multiple difficulties to befall his family at that time. His father, as indicated by his accent, was of Scottish descent. In fact, he was actually an immigrant. He'd immigrated from Scotland to America alongside his immediate family when he was 19. During his early years of life as an American, he'd met Natasha at 21-years of age. They'd dated four years after first meeting before marrying at age 25, and their son Darren had come into the picture a full year after that.

Unfortunately, when Darren was six, and about halfway through his 1st grade year, Aaron had lost his job. And as if God himself had been out to make sure that their lives got as epically screwed up as they could possibly get, a small downward spiral had occurred that had resulted in the entire family ending up in a situation none too different than one that the famous movie star Sam Evans had suffered alongside his family during his sophomore year of high school. Throughout that time, things had been quite difficult for the family, with Aaron and Natasha struggling to make ends meet and being forced to homeschool Darren.

But over time, they had slowly managed to work things out, make progress at rebuilding their lives, and had finally regained steady employment in the summer immediately following what the McCrimmon family officially counted as Darren's 8th grade year, just in time for them to afford the tuition needed to send him to high school alongside his close childhood friends Dunlap Carmichael, Naomi Bright, and Amber Lawson. And seemingly just for the cosmic hilarity, the high school the four had ended up in together was William McKinley High School, the exact same school that Sam Evans himself had attended from his sophomore to senior years of high school. And of course, as of the previous Friday, which just happened to have been the first official day of the school year, Darren, his three friends, and 9 other students had successfully earned themselves positions as members of the school's local show choir club, the New Directions.

Darren nodded his head, and took another few bites of his French toast. "I'll admit," Darren began, a faint Scottish accent now starting to show in his own voice. "When you put it that way dad, I can certainly see what you mean."

"Indeed." Aaron chuckled. "Ah, it feels so wonderful to have my son taking part in such a fantastic element of American culture." He pointed his finger at Darren, a proud smile on his face. "I'm sure that if your voice is still anywhere near as good as it was at that talent show 2 years ago, you'll be in absolute perfect harmony alongside their band's bagpipes."

Darren chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "Dad," he said patiently. "Hate to burst your bubble, but I highly doubt they'll have bagpipes."

"Oh you get my point, I'm sure." Aaron chuckled. "Nonetheless. I'm sure you'll leave a plenty good mark with what you've got to offer for this merry band. And any blokes out there who say nay to that," he made a dismissive gesture at the thin air to his left. "Their loss."

Darren chuckled. "If you say so."

"Well nonetheless," said Natasha. She looked over at the clock in the kitchen, and then back at her son and husband. "I do believe we'd best be finishing up in the kitchen real soon."

Darren and Aaron looked at the clock, and silently gulped as they realized it was 7:10. The boy and his father looked each other in the eyes nervously. At exactly 7:30, Aaron would need to be ready to depart for work, and Darren would need to be ready for Natasha to drop him off at school before she went to her own job; and they both knew better then to risk her wrath by causing them all to be late without good reason. Darren hurriedly finished up his French toast while Aaron hurriedly warmed up some ordinary toast to eat for a hasty breakfast of his own. After all, they most certainly did not want to endure Natasha McCrimmon's anger that would unfold if they were late for work and school. For as Aaron put it, she was, despite being born in America, 'every bit as much of a fiery tempered Scot' as he was when angry, and Darren had come to associate his mother while angry to being chased by the most nightmarish and terrifying of the nuckelavee of Scottish myth. And for people who had brains, the nuckelavee image he'd come to mentally associate with his mother while she was angry was not something that they wanted to see. And Darren knew, for a fact, that he was amongst the people with brains.

. . . . .

At around 7:00 in the morning, Amber Lawson had already finished eating her serving of waffles and was rinsing the plate she'd used in the sink to prepare it for placement in the dishwasher. Much like her three childhood friends, she was very much excited to get the day started and attend the first official meetings of the New Directions for the current school year. "Today is going to be a fabulous day," she thought to herself, a clear smile on her face and her black eyes agleam with anticipation. "I can feel it."

"You sure seem to be in a good mood this morning."

Amber smiled, and turned her head. Sure enough, her mother, Alicia, a blonde much like her daughter, was still at her spot at the table, sipping her coffee and finishing up her own plate of waffles. "What gave it away mom?" she asked in mock annoyance, and with a clear smile still on her face.

Her mother chuckled, shook her head side to side, and took another sip of her coffee. "Well I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. After all, today is your first school day as an official member of the New Directions."

Amber chuckled. "You got that right mom."

"Indeed." This speaker was Amber's father, Hal, a man with mousy brown hair who was currently helping himself to his own serving of coffee in the living room, having finished his own breakfast a good few minutes before his wife and daughter. He took a sip of his coffee. "And by God am I hoping that none of the guys in that club that your mother and I don't already know personally turn out to be like that Wayland bastard."

At this, both Amber and Alicia sighed and rolled their eyes. "Must you keep bringing him up?" Alicia asked.

Hal winced, silently cursing himself for saying that name. "Sorry," he admitted. "Don't know why I keep doing that."

"It's fine dad," said Amber. She nodded her head. "Really, considering what he did, I'd be worried if you weren't feeling protective and concerned about me and any other guys I might hang around that aren't Dunlap and Darren."

Alicia raised her eyebrow. "Considering exactly how far he very nearly got while still dating you, you're acting very worryingly nonchalant."

Amber sighed. "It's better I act like this then the alternative."

And indeed it was better that she act the way she currently was. Without her current bubbly and relatively nonchalant behavior regarding the experience her father had just referred to, she had a bad feeling that she'd flat out panic, or worse. The previous school year, for about the exact same amount of time that Naomi had been romantically linked with Aaron Blonsky, Amber herself had been likewise involved with Blonsky's best friend and fellow hockey player, Marcus Wayland. And of course, much like Blonsky, Wayland had turned out to be a less then pleasant catch. Granted, Wayland had never casually subjected her to potentially suffering physical harm or gone to any of the extreme lengths that Blonsky had resorted to. He _had_ , however, come to make it unnervingly clear that he seemed to love her really more in a fashion of viewing her as an objectified sex toy, and had come to often try to pressure her into giving up her all-important v-card with him. Eventually, after one refusal too many in Wayland's book, the boy had very angrily and nightmarishly attempted to rape her, only for her to just barely fight him off and escape. But of course, no one else had been present in the area the incident had occurred, and Amber knew all too well how Wayland was a smooth enough liar that his own parents would be easily fooled into siding with him if there weren't sufficient proof. Thus, the knowledge even now remained strictly with her, her parents, her friends and their families, and of course Wayland and Blonsky. But even so, she was confident that things would eventually change in that regard. After all, she had a plan.

"You do realize that with you and Naomi having effectively reported their crimes, I could go ahead and launch an investigation against those two punks and potentially have them arrested." And indeed, Alicia Lawson could do such things. In fact, she was one of the best cops in the Lima Police Department. And on a very similar note, while Hal was currently employed as a clinical psychologist, his skill at his work had been good enough for him to be considered at one point for working in the department's BAU division, only for Hal himself to turn it down as he didn't want to deal with _that_ level of stress.

Nonetheless, Amber's mother had made a good point, and she nodded her head. "I understand that mom, really I do." She lifted her head and gazed her mother in the eyes. "But right now, call me crazy, but I'm still not yet entirely certain that such an effort would go anywhere at the current moment. Yes, we know where and the Blonsky boy live, but we don't have enough proof. You and dad know as well as I do how good of a liar Marcus is. And judging by how the Blonsky family hasn't shown any signs of knowing about what Aaron did, odds are he's been able to keep his own activities against Naomi sufficiently covered up from them as well."

She nodded her head. "But this year, hopefully that will change." She quickly checked her watch. "As of last Friday, I'm now a member of the New Directions, and so are Darren, Naomi, and Dunlap. If we're lucky, the four of us will almost certainly befriend a pretty large number of the other 9 students who joined alongside us, not to mention get Mr. Schuester as a close ally as well. And with their help, Naomi and I will almost certainly be able to spread the knowledge to them. And from that point onward, if we all work hard enough, we could yet find a way to make sure there's absolutely no way that their guilt can't be denied and that no one can be fooled into thinking otherwise." She smiled at her mother. "And believe me mom, wouldn't that be satisfying?"

Alicia couldn't help but let out a proud chuckle. "I'll certainly admit that it would." She then directed a firm, but kind, look at her daughter. "But even so, please do be careful."

"What she said," said Hal.

Amber chuckled. "No need to worry," she said. "I will."

. . . . .

Cody Nakamura smiled confidently to himself as he combed his dark black hair while looking in the mirror of the bathroom located next to his bedroom. "Today's going to be a great day," he thought to himself. He lowered his comb, smiling now at the result. "And by God am I going to make sure I look the part for such a good day." He picked up a pair of glasses that were lying nearby the sink and cleaned them meticulously. He placed them back on his face, and smiled. "Vision looks better already," he thought to himself.

"Are you done up there Cody?"

Cody mentally winced, realizing that he'd been somewhat idling around over the course of his recent activities. "Almost mom," he responded. "Just give me a second."

"Well try not to take too long," said the voice of his father, Mark. "You need to be ready to leave within the next 10 minutes."

Cody hurriedly checked his watch, mentally wincing again as he saw that it was now 7:20, and thus indeed 10 minutes away from his ideal departure time for school. "Understood," he yelled just loud enough for his parents to hear him without making himself erroneously sound like he was angry. "I'll be down in a moment. I promise."

"I'll be holding you to that."

Cody sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Come on mom," he thought to himself. Then he shook his head again more rapidly to clear his thoughts. "Stop messing around," he thought to himself. He hurriedly checked the area, mentally noting all that he'd done for his preparations. Then he smiled, for indeed he was ready now. He left the bathroom, reclaimed his backpack full of school supplies from his bedroom, and made his way downstairs where his parents were in fact already waiting for him in the living room.

At first glance, both of his parents were commonly mistaken as Chinese American. In reality, they were Korean American, and so was Cody. Cody's mother, Johanna, shook her head, a slightly amused smile on her face as she lifted her watch. As was indicated by the time currently shown on it, it had only taken about a minute for Cody to finish upstairs and come down after their little 'talk'. "You certainly came down quickly," she noted aloud.

Cody chuckled. "So I did."

Mark snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. And here I was thinking I'd have to bring up the matter of that club you joined last Friday to get you back downstairs."

Cody chuckled again, shaking his head side to side. "Yes indeed," he said almost completely to himself. "Today's a big day. As of last Friday, me, Bailey, and Raj are in the New Directions together."

"Well I certainly wasn't expecting you to be so excited for Raj to be amongst the membership alongside you," Johanna noted. She shook her head slowly. "Especially considering the current beef you've still got between you two."

Cody sighed, his happy face almost instantly melting into a weary frown. "I'll admit, that part I'm not entirely excited about." He shook his head side to side. "But if being in the glee club together is what it's going to take for this matter over Bailey to be resolved and for that beef between us to go away, then I guess Raj being a member alongside us is just a price I'll have to pay."

"That wording doesn't make it sound very hopeful."

Cody sighed, and turned around to face his father. "You get my point dad."

Mark spread his hands out to his sides as if to say 'don't blame me'. "I'm just saying son, if this rivalry between you is already starting to get _this_ serious after only 2-3 months, then surely you understand why your mother and I are starting to get worried about it all."

"Not to mention Raj's family," Johanna added. "And Bailey's."

Cody sighed again, and shook his head side to side with his eyes closed. Admittedly, his parents' words weren't entirely without a point. On New Year's Eve of his freshman year, which had also been both the freshman year for his close friend, Bailey Kellogg, and sophomore year for his other close friend, Raj Patel, Bailey and Raj had become a couple. Over the course of the remainder of that school year, and almost the entirety of the following school year, this relationship had seemed to function quite smoothly. And Cody himself, despite having developed romantic feelings of his own for Bailey, had still been perfectly willing (though not without a good bit of reluctance) to let Bailey be happy with Raj.

But then, exactly one month away from the last day of Cody and Bailey's sophomore year and Raj's junior year, Cody and Bailey had been walking through the hallways of McKinley High having a pleasant chat as friends after school had ended for the day, only to at one point manage to turn and enter another hallway just in time to find none other than Raj right there in said hallway . . . and he was both kissing and seemingly making out with another girl.

As it turned out, the girl in question, a Korean American the same age as Raj, was none other than a low-ranking member of the McKinley High cheerleading squad, Kimberly Chung. This same girl, as it turned out, was another close friend of Raj that he'd known even longer then he'd known Bailey and Cody. And to add insult to injury, Kimberly herself had developed romantic feelings of her own for Raj that she'd finally developed the courage to confess to him about three weeks prior. And as a result of this revelation, Raj, through a mixture of flattery, guilt, and newfound confusion, had chosen to experiment with Kimberly, and had done so for the last 3 weeks prior to the current discovery by Cody and Bailey. And as it turned out, he had chosen to keep the matter hidden from Bailey and Cody in an effort to try to find a way to soften the blow and let her down gently in the event that he found himself deciding that he perhaps felt stronger for Kimberly.

Needless to say, the events that had unfolded after Bailey and Cody's discovery of Raj's infidelity had not been pleasant. Jilted and outraged, Bailey had broken up with Raj. And in the days and months that had followed since, Cody had worked patiently and carefully to try to win Bailey over into giving him a chance, Raj had set to work on trying to get himself back in Bailey's good graces and attempt to win her back over himself and try to allow things between them and Kimberly to work out better than they'd now unfolded, and Kimberly had been left to wait patiently for Raj, Bailey, and Cody to work things out and for Raj to give her a proper answer and resolution as to where she stood in the whole mess.

Mark nodded his head, clearly aware of how Cody's silence was somewhat an acknowledgement of how he and his wife had a valid point. "Look Cody," he explained. "I understand that it's gonna be difficult, and how strongly you feel for Bailey." He shook his head side to side. "But as much as I'd be pleased with the idea of you dating her and her potentially becoming my daughter in law, I don't think it will be worth your friendship with Raj being destroyed if that's what it takes for you to end up with her in that way."

"Dad. . ."

"I'm serious." Mark sighed. "Before all this drama happened, you and Raj were practically brothers in all but name." He looked up. "But now? How much that bond has deteriorated? And in only 2-3 months? That scares me."

Cody sighed. "I know dad, and I'm sorry about that. Really, I am. And trust me, I'm trying my best not to let things get too out of hand in regards to our rivalry."

"I certainly hope you are," said Mark. "Believe me, I do. Raheem and I once had a feud over Johanna just like the current one between you and Raj over Bailey when we were your age. And quite honestly, with all that happened between us during those times, it quite honestly wasn't until you and Raj became such good friends yourselves that the two of us were finally able to patch things back up. And believe me, I don't want the same kind of thing happening between you and Raj and ending up repeating itself again and again for your children and grandchildren. And I especially wouldn't want it to happen to you two and end up leaving your friendship permanently destroyed either. A bond like the kind you and Raj had before now? That's not something that you should take the loss of lightly, and it really should be treasured and held onto tightly."

Cody hung his head, knowing full well that his father was telling the truth, but still not entirely certain yet how he and Raj were to full-on resolve their current conflict just yet. "If you say so," he eventually managed to respond.

Johanna placed a hand on her husband's shoulder, a sympathetic look on her face. Then she looked at the clock. "It's 7:28," she noted. She looked back at her son. "We can talk about this some more at dinner," she said. Cody nodded. He was more than willing to wait until after he'd attended his first meetings as a member of the New Directions before further discussion with his parents about the current shaky ground between him and Raj.

. . . . .

At exactly 7:35, a car had departed from a house a couple blocks away from the Nakamura family's house five minutes after Johanna had departed with Cody, and was now firmly on the way to the intended destination of its occupants. The occupants, one of them a man in his late 30s to early 40s, a woman about the same age, and a 16-year old girl were all in a good mood. The girl, however, was in an especially good mood. She smiled excitedly, her dark face agleam with happiness as she looked out the window next to her in clear anticipation of what was to come this day. "Get ready McKinley High," she thought to herself with a toothy grin on her face. "Starting today, your future big star begins her glorious career." She chuckled quite loudly. "And boy is she going to enjoy every second of it."

"Ain't you in a good mood this morning," her father, Oscar Kellogg, whistled.

Bailey Kellogg chuckled, and turned her head back towards her parents. "You can bet your bottom boots I am, dad." She chuckled again. "Proud of it to."

"Shocker," her mother, Angie, stated in an amused sarcasm laden tone, without losing any focus on her driving or the road.

Bailey chuckled again. "You got that right," she said without missing a beat.

"Ain't that the truth," Bailey's father agreed. He turned his head to look out his window. "It certainly took you long enough to get into that glee club; that's for sure."

"Don't you worry dad," said Bailey. She stared ahead confidently. "If I'm still anywhere near as talented as I was back at that talent show two years ago, I'm bound to get myself well on the way to stardom over the course of my last two years at McKinley High now that I'm in the New Directions." Her smile widened. "And if I'm especially lucky, Raj and Cody will have just enough time to get well on the way to their own special futures that happen to await them over the course of their membership as well."

"Even though Raj is a senior this year?" her mother asked.

"Damn straight even though Raj is a senior."

"Well that's gonna depend a Hell of a lot on how soon they resolve that little war they've got between them right now over you."

Bailey sighed. As had been the case the past weekend, the previous Friday, and virtually every day that had unfolded over the past 2-3 months following that one fateful day in her final month of sophomore year, she still was quite uncomfortable with thinking too much about all the drama that had now come into existence between her and her two close male friends, Cody Nakamura and Raj Patel. These same two close friends had become heavily involved in her love life because of first Raj becoming her boyfriend, then an epic breakup shed initiated after she and Cody had caught Raj cheating on her with another girl his age named Kimberly Chung, and the current continuing duel efforts by Raj and Cody to win her over. In fact, she had initially only tried out for the glee club in the first place under the hope that membership in it would allow her to get away from Raj. And as much as she was willing to consider the idea of just maybe dating Cody, she wanted to be able to have the situation resolved in a way that would allow all three of them to remain the close friends they'd been before all the drama. But of course, as was only logical for situations like this, the 2-3 months that had followed the fateful day all the way to the current moment even now proved insufficient time for her to think up the ideal solution that would allow for such an outcome.

Angie noticed her daughter's silence. "You do realize that this situation may not entirely be capable of being resolved the way you hope it will be, right?"

Bailey sighed. "I know that mom." She looked out the window to her right. "But I'm not giving up hope that it will be resolved the way I want it to. I can't give it up. I won't."

"We're not saying you should," Oscar stated calmly and patiently. He lowered his head, sighed, and shook his head. He looked back at Bailey. "Believe me, considering how close you and those two bozos were all these years before that one bad day last May, your mother and I are just as hopeful as you are that your friendship doesn't get damaged beyond any hope of repair by the time this situation is resolved."

Angie nodded. "We just want you to also be careful and try not to get your hopes up too high." She lifted one hand from the driver's wheel to forestall Bailey from making an interjecting remark. "I'm not saying that you should give up entirely. I just want you to be ready in the unlikely event that such a negative outcome actually _does_ occur."

Oscar nodded. "It's better to be cautious and prepared for a potential negative outcome just as much as you are for a positive one then to be crushed and brokenhearted over a negative outcome occurring that you didn't allow yourself to be prepared for."

Bailey paused, thought to herself, and then seemed to mentally struggle to think of just what to say. Then she sighed, and nodded her head. "If you say so."

Her parents noticed their daughter's very somber tone that had entered her latest response to them, and they looked at each other, silently stating in unison that something needed to be done to change the current atmosphere.

"But never mind that," said Oscar as he turned on the radio. By sheer luck, the song that ended up blasting out of the radio was one of Bailey's favorite songs by the famed African American recording artist (and McKinley High alumna) Mercedes Jones Evans. "Today's a big day! We need to celebrate!"

"Damn straight," said Angie.

Bailey chuckled, and nodded her head in agreement, smile already back on her face. "You got that right," she agreed.

. . . . .

At 7:50, a 17-year old Indian American boy was standing right next to the driver's side front door of a red Hyundai. The car in question was parked in the parking lot of McKinley High. The boy flipped the keys over in his hand, sighed, and locked the car. The boy, Raj Patel, was not entirely sure what to think at the current moment.

Admittedly, he himself was quite excited to be attending his first official meetings as a member of the New Directions glee club. He'd have been a fool not to be. And he was also happy that Bailey had made it into the club alongside him. However, he was not entirely as happy about Cody making it into the club as he was about Bailey's membership. And under different circumstances, he would probably have been exactly as happy for Cody's membership as he was about Bailey's. He sighed, hung his head, and shook it side to side. "All three of us used to be such good friends," he thought to himself. "Oh where did it all go wrong?" This question, of course, was rhetorical. He knew all too well where it had all gone wrong. And he was not at all blameless in what had gone down.

He sighed again. Truth be told, he was just as worried as Bailey and Cody about just how much his friendship with any of them could potentially be damaged if the current drama going on between them lasted long enough, and especially depending on just how the whole mess got resolved. And the fact that his and Cody's rivalry had progressed to its current level over the course of only 2-3 months was indeed something he found quite troubling. But at the same time, he still could not yet think of a good way to resolve the matter peacefully without great difficulty.

A conversation that he'd had with his parents before departure for school had hardly proven any more helpful in easing his mind. He sighed once more as he remembered the conversation in question. The day had started out pleasantly enough with him waking up from bed perfectly on time, having a delicious breakfast, and taking care of all the necessary preparations for when he left for school just in time to have half an hour to spare before departure.

In the conversation that had unfolded between him and his parents, Raheem and Rani, his mother (Rani) had begun by noting how rather excited Raj had to have been to be as excited and prepared for the day as early as he'd now turned out to be. Raheem had agreed, and made note of how today was Raj's first day as an official member of the New Directions glee club. He'd even gone so far as to make note of how very proud his brother, Raj's uncle Ravi, would be of the news.

But then matters had switched to his current dilemma between Cody and Bailey, and things had gotten quite somber from that point onward. Raj sighed again. He could still hear the entire conversation clear as day. And quite honestly, he couldn't help but agree with his parents. Before the fateful day where all the drama had first been born, and in fact before he had even started dating Bailey, he and Cody had been practically brothers. Now, over the course of the 2-3 months that had unfolded following Raj getting caught affectively cheating on Bailey with his other close friend, and fellow senior, Kimberly Chung, by none other than Bailey and Cody, his bond with Cody had eroded to the point that they might as well have been eternally sworn enemies since birth.

Raj hung his head. Truth be told, he hated how much drama and tension now existed between him, Cody, and Bailey just as much as his parents did; and as he was almost certain his two junior-year friends hated the matter as well. After all, there was even now a small part of his mind that said that if he'd truly loved Bailey as much as he thought, he would either have never started seeing Kimberly on the sly behind Bailey's back; or at the very least would have handled the matter of breaking the news about his romantic confusion in a much better fashion then the one he'd chosen. He also knew perfectly well that Cody both had feelings of his own for Bailey and that he'd love Bailey and treat her right. And finally, there was the matter of Kimberly herself. Raj sighed, his eyes now closed with regret. Even with how little he'd interacted with Kimberly, or even their ally amongst the sophomores, Sid Webber, he had a very strong feeling that his current behavior and ongoing drama was hurting her nonetheless. And she didn't deserve that.

Yet at the same time, Raj very genuinely didn't know what to do. Quite honestly, he still didn't yet have any idea whether he truly loved anyone romantically, let alone whether he felt that love more strongly towards either Bailey or Kimberly. He didn't want Bailey forever thinking of him as an untrustworthy cheater; but his current efforts at still attempting to win her back in competition against Cody hardly seemed to be helping his case. He didn't want to leave Kimberly feeling as if she'd been lead on, and left heartbroken at the idea that he didn't truly care for her at all even in the face of the practically earthshaking confession she'd given him not too long before the incident; but at the same time, he didn't want her to feel as if he was only choosing her over Bailey out of pity and viewed her as little more than a silver medal either. Neither of the two girls deserved such a fate. Yet how was he supposed to properly figure out his feelings when he even now had no way of properly exploring them without leaving either Bailey or Kimberly shafted in the process?

Then there was Cody to consider. Where did _he_ currently stand regarding this issue? Was Cody still capable of being reasonable and allowing him to fully explain and help him understand his necessity behind continuing to hang out with Bailey to help him have better chances of getting his feelings in order and properly determine whether he truly loved her or Kimberly more? Or would Cody just presume such explanations as a sign to interpret him as a two-timing ladies' man who hoped to just make a threesome for his own selfish gain? For that matter, just how far had he and Cody progressed in their little rivalry? Was there still any chance at all of them being able to reconcile? Or had they already gone too far for any hope of such an outcome? Or even more infuriatingly, had the drama between even lasted long enough for a resolution to occur at this point to seem even remotely genuine and allow for neither of them to appear to be just giving up and get accused of cowardice? Raj sighed, and hung his head once more. What was he going to do?

Raj lifted his head. "This is my last year," he thought to himself. He shook his head side to side. "Next year, I'll be in college; and here I am now with all this drama between me, Cody, and Bailey?" He sighed. "My senior year can't unfold and end like this. It can't." He took a deep breath, and then sighed. "Well, hopefully things will yet work out later in the school year."

He checked his watch. By some miracle, only 5 minutes had passed. He silently whistled. "Well at least I still have plenty of time to get inside the school and reach my 1st class for the day." He nodded his head. "And even better, since Bailey and Cody don't share the same first class as me on Mondays, I should have plenty of time to allow myself to at least be civil and be able to speak and interact with them without going too far."

He turned his head to face his car, locked it with the appropriate button on his keys, and turned to face the nearby school entrance. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. He directed a calm and determined look at the school. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself. Mind made up, and confidence and determination at the ready, he dutifully marched off to the doors near the parking lot that would allow him entry into the school. At that moment, as dramatic and tension laden his relationship with two of his closest friends currently was, he was ready to undergo whatever this day had to throw at him. He was ready to get his first full week of school for his senior year underway. He was ready for his first official full day as an official member of the New Directions.

 **And there you have it people! My first chapter for my newest multi-chapter work in the GWAFU (Glee: We Are Family Universe). Here's to hoping you all find it a good, proper, and enjoyable way to get the ball rolling for what's to come! ^_^ I'm sure you'll be quite glad indeed to see how some brief nods to the 'A Generation Packed With Potential' oneshot were made in this chapter. I also hope very much that you enjoyed all the segments devoted to my 13 OC New Directions Members from GWAF that you all got to know and love back in my original first story for this community, not to mention how you all FINALLY got introduced to their parents! ^_^ Believe me, I had so much fun in finally putting an end to their status as 'the Ghost' type characters and giving them a proper physical character introduction into the GWAFU ^_^. Here's me hoping you had just as much fun reading this chapter (and experiencing those elements) as I did in writing them! And for one last little detail, here's a little 411 on just where the events of this story occur. As of this current point, the events of this chapter take place after the events of Chapter 4 in GWAF, but before the events of Chapter 5 in GWAF. The rest of this story, will unfold over the course of the NND's first full week as members of the ND (and a tiny bit of time after said first week as well). With that in mind, the events of this entire story that are still to unfold will occur at a time that will allow them to overlap with the events of GWAF chapter 5, somewhat occur at the same time as the events of Chapters 6-15 in GWAF and LONG BEFORE the events of GWAF chapter 16. You got that? Here's me hoping that it won't be too overwhelming for you to try to keep all this continuity and timeline stuff in order (and feel free to look back over GWAF and AGPWP for necessary information). That being said, once again, I hope you all enjoyed the beginning of this Glee-ful brand new story! And please, do leave a respectable amount of feedback. For that matter, I shall require a MINIMUM of** ** _3_** **reviews for this first chapter in order to post the 2nd chapter (upon its completion). And remember, Flames are forbidden in the review section of this story (just like with all my stories). Again, hoping you had fun, and looking forward to your feedback! ^_^**


	2. A New Fresh Start

**And now, I proudly present, the 2nd chapter of A New Generation is Born! In this new chapter, we watch as Mr. Schuester gets properly introduced to his 13 brand new students, all while more than ready to allow yet another Glee-ful year to get on the road. And that being said, here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: Just to quickly remind you all, I do not own Glee. All I own are the 13 OC members of the New Directions. And now, onward with the fic.**

 **Chapter 2:**

 **A New Fresh Start**

Quite a few hours later, during the recess session, Mr. Schuester couldn't have been more excited. He was so happy right now as he walked through the McKinley High hallways that not even a punch to the face would have been enough to rid his face of his smile. For at that moment, the time had finally come. Now was the time for him to once again get to work in the McKinley High choir room. Now was the time to hold his first official meeting of the New Directions for the current school year. Now was the time to properly begin his work with and get to know the members of his 100% brand new generation of New Directions. And he was looking forward to it already.

After what seemed like a far longer amount of time to him than the actual amount of time to unfold, Mr. Schuester finally found himself within the final few feet from the familiar comforting entrance to the choir room. He could already see through the window nearby that all 13 of his brand-new students had beaten him there and were all gathered around and seated on the familiar red chairs waiting for him to arrive.

He silently made note of them all. There were 7 boys and 6 girls. Two of them, a boy and a girl, were African American. Two of the boys were Asian American. One of the two boys in question was obviously an Indian American, and the second looked more like a Korean American. The remaining 9 students were clearly Caucasian; although one girl with black hair and blue eyes amongst the Caucasians had surprisingly quite tanned skin. Two of the students had red hair. About four of them were blonde. Possibly five if he counted the fact that one of them was an albino. The rest all had dark hair. And for added variety, there was also a dog in the room with them. The dog in question was a German shepherd. Nonetheless, Mr. Schuester was looking forward to get to know them all and begin his work with them.

A few minutes later, he noticed 12 of the students turn their heads towards the door and lean in that direction in anticipation. He guessed that they must have heard the sound of his footsteps. He did make note, however, of the one girl amongst the group who didn't seem to show any interest alongside her fellow members of the club. Even without the distinctive McKinley High cheerios outfit she was wearing, he would have likely recognized her with little difficulty anyhow.

He remembered this girl from the auditions. Her name was Charlotte Thornton, and she was the head of the cheerios. She'd been the 6th person to sign her name on the sign up sheet, and the 6th to audition. She had auditioned with Carrie Underwood's _Good Girl_. He also remembered that she'd at one point made one or two minor flirting attempts towards him and had seemed to give off an almost nauseating aura of being a person not to be trusted. And judging from the way many of the other students now in the choir room alongside her had behaved the previous Friday in her regard, it seemed he was not the only one to get this feeling around her. The only one he noticed who seemed to not at all be affected was the African American boy now sitting in the choir room alongside her and the others. He mentally took a deep breath to keep himself calm and happy. "I let her in this club," he thought to himself. "She deserves a chance; just like Quinn, Kitty, and all the other less palatable girls like her that I've allowed in this club over the years. If she proves to be the one rotten apple I can't freshen up, then so be it. At least then, I'll have given her a chance to be freshened up and not just dismissed out of hand."

Mr. Schuester entered the choir room, and he felt quite happy indeed when the 12 students who'd initially shown interest upon hearing his footsteps started clapping and cheering in clear pleasure at his arrival. He came to a stop between the students and the location of the club's trusty piano, yet at the same time near one of the walls, turned to face the students, and proceeded to wave and even bow to them all before clapping his hands twice to signal that it was time to get down to business.

"Good to see you everyone," he said enthusiastically. "Alright, who among you is happy to be in this club?"

All 13 of the students raised their hands, though he did notice that Charlotte was the last to do so and seemed much slower in joining in. Of course, he allowed no sign of his awareness of the matter to show.

"Good for you everyone! Alright, now before we start out on our first week's assignment, I'd like to discuss a few things with you." All of the students apart from Charlotte clasped their hands together, their faces glowing with clear eagerness to hear what he wanted to talk about with them. "The first thing I'd like for us to do is for all thirteen of you to stand up and tell me and the others a few things about yourself. That way, we can break the ice and build up some camaraderie among us."

He turned to face a short blonde girl sitting in the front row. "Diana," he said, "as the first to audition, would you like to have the honor first?"

The girl gulped, her green eyes wide with nerves. A tall boy sitting next to her with black hair and grey eyes placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered something into her ear. Mr. Schuester didn't overhear what the boy whispered, but he guessed that it must have been something encouraging, as the girl then took a deep breath, got up from her seat, and walked up to take a position directly in front of her 12 peers. The boy who'd encouraged her, plus 10 of the other students, cheered enthusiastically at her as if to encourage her.

The girl smiled nervously, and eventually managed to say, "Hello everyone. As you heard me say yesterday, I am Diana Eberhart." Her 11 supporters nodded and gestured for her to continue. "This is my third year at this school, and I hope to someday be a Broadway actress."

Her 11 supporters amongst the other 12 students cheered in approval, and Mr. Schuester couldn't help but nod his head in his own gesture of approval. "Not a bad idea," he thought to himself, thoughts of Rachel Berry now fresh on his mind. He couldn't help but wonder sometimes just how things were going for the club's very 1st female lead nowadays that the papers and other media failed to mention.

Seemingly more confident now, Diana continued, "One of my closest friends here is Susan Caraway, but my dearest companion I have ever had, is Daniel Taymor." The dark-haired boy who'd encouraged Diana and the tanned skinned girl with black hair cheered loudly upon hearing these words. Mr. Schuester also noticed that the African American boy smiled warmly in the direction of the two cheering students, as did a blonde boy sitting right next to the dark-haired girl.

Now smiling widely with pride, Diana finished by saying, "However, I hope very much that by the end of this year, I will have formed excellent friendships with the rest of you, and I hope that I will have the time of my life." Her 11 supporters amongst her fellow members of the glee club clapped enthusiastically, and Diana returned to her seat with a smile.

As this happened though, Mr. Schuester made note of how Charlotte didn't clap at all, and never once let any expression be on her face aside from what seemed to be narrow-eyed hatred directed towards Diana. "It seems we have a rivalry on our hands," Mr. Schuester thought to himself. He surreptitiously glanced towards Diana and the dark-haired boy who'd initially whispered encouragement to her. "Why do I have a feeling that this boy is involved in some capacity?"

The boy in question got up from his seat without even being called, and all the other students in the choir room, Charlotte included this time, cheered as he took the initiative and took his place at the exact area where Diana had stood. Mr. Schuester smiled on sight of this. Clearly, the boy remembered how he had in fact been the 2nd student to sign up and audition for the club the previous Friday. "This ought to be good," he thought to himself.

The boy smiled. "Hello everyone. I am Daniel Taymor, the quarterback of the McKinley High Titans. As you all might know, the football team hasn't lost a single game with me as the quarterback, and I definitely enjoy football."

The other 12 students in the room nodded their heads up and down. They had expected no less from the quarterback. Diana, however, had a look on her face that indicated that she knew something else that Daniel hadn't yet said.

"However," Daniel continued. "Nowadays, I feel that while I do enjoy football, I don't want to pursue a football scholarship. Deep inside, I have a feeling that I have a different dream I want to pursue."

Diana smiled happily, and 10 of the other students still seated clearly looked interested in the information as well. Charlotte, however, had a narrow eyed glare on her face as if in disapproval.

"Also," Daniel continued. "Within this room, is a very special someone that I care about a lot, and while I am happy to develop strong friendships with the majority of you, I am also hoping very much that I will develop the courage I need to tell this special someone how I feel and bring our friendship to a much higher level." All but Charlotte smiled and nodded their heads in encouragement. Charlotte, meanwhile, looked fit to burst.

Mr. Schuester saw this, and nodded his head. "Yep," he thought to himself. "That boy is definitely involved in some way with whatever beef Charlotte has with Diana."

"Most of all, I am hoping that by being a member of the New Directions, I will eventually grow up to be just as great as my own personal idol, Finn Hudson."

At the sound of the name, all the students apart from Charlotte cheered excitedly. Even Mr. Schuester himself allowed a warm smile to come on his face as he nodded his head in approval. "Not every day I meet someone who has that strong of an opinion of Finn Hudson this time and age," he thought to himself. "I'll bet Finn will be happy to hear about this." Charlotte, meanwhile, was shaking her head side to side with a half disapproving and half concerned look on her face. Daniel smiled at the applause from Diana and the other 10 students that were cheering, and returned to his seat.

The next student to rise from his seat to take part in the introductions was the blonde boy sitting next to the tanned skinned girl with black hair. The German shepherd that had been lying down near the boy's feet got up on its feet and followed its master as he took his place at the area where Diana and Daniel had stood. As the boy and his dog came to a stop and silently prepared themselves to begin, Mr. Schuester watched them intently. He remembered how the boy had been the 3rd person to sign up and audition, and that the dog had teamed up with the boy to perform a very unique performance. Now, perhaps he would get a good idea of just how unique this boy was to have a dog this well trained, plus anything else that would allow him to properly work with and perhaps even befriend this boy.

"Hello everyone," the boy began. "I am Calvin Martenson, and this is my faithful dog, Hobbes Martenson." As he said the last bit, he gestured silently at the dog, who was standing directly to Calvin's right. The dog started panting happily as dogs tended to do.

"Some of you may wonder why I'm allowed to have my dog in school with me."

Mr. Schuester silently nodded his head in agreement, for he himself was very much curious as to what it was that allowed for this dog to be such an obvious exception to the school's usually very rigid 'no dogs allowed' rule.

"Well here's the thing," Calvin continued. "I have high functioning Autism, and Hobbes here, was bought for me by my parents when I was eleven years old and he was a puppy for use as a therapy dog."

"So that's why," Mr. Schuester thought to himself.

"Over time, I grew to like having Hobbes with me, and I started taking him with me everywhere I went. In fact, thanks to my parents' work in revising my IEP accommodations, I even bring him to school. I am especially happy to have done this because, while Hobbes is a great therapy dog, he is also well trained for a variety of other activities, such as . . ."

"Oh like we care."

At the sound of this remark, the other 11 students that were seated turned their heads to direct annoyed glares at the guilty one who'd just now interrupted; Charlotte. Mr. Schuester also directed a small annoyed glare of disapproval towards her as well. "Not off to a good start," he grudgingly admitted.

Calvin turned his head towards her as well. "I beg your pardon?"

Mr. Schuester directed a small glance towards Calvin out of the corner of his eyes. Emma had had experience with Autistics before, and she'd been able to fill him in on a large variety of important information. And he could tell from the boy's tone, that he seemed just as annoyed, if not even more than the others, by Charlotte's less than respectful remark. "This could get ugly," he thought to himself.

Charlotte sneered, tossed her blonde hair over her left shoulder, and said, "Mr. Schuester said that you were supposed to tell us about yourself, not about your stupid dog."

Calvin pointed his right pointer finger at Charlotte and viciously growled, "Watch it you little . . ."

But Charlotte would have none of it, and she continued, "And it's not like there's anything else we want to hear about you either! You may look like a human, but in truth, you're really a wild animal. And you've already told us that your autistic, so you're basically a retard, and therefore not very interesting at all."

At the sound of Charlotte's scathing remarks, Susan, Diana, Daniel, and all the other members gaped at the cheer leader in horror. Mr. Schuester was shocked at what he was hearing. "What the Devil?" he thought to himself. The first session of the year hadn't even finished, and already there was drama afoot. He was so stunned at this unexpected turn of events that he didn't even notice the small smile of smug satisfaction that popped up on Charlotte's face as she continued to watch the now very annoyed and angry Calvin.

Mr. Schuester noticed Calvin start to tense up in his body language, clearly on the verge of potentially losing his temper. He extended his hand towards the angry Autistic as if trying to soothe him. "Calvin, please calm down."

Calvin leaned forward, angry look still on his face, clearly not having heard Mr. Schuester at all. "Don't push me hag!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes and responded, "Or else what dodo? You can't do anything to me. And I certainly doubt that your dog will do anything to me. From the way he looks right now, he doesn't even understand what's going on."

Hobbes, to Charlotte's credit, did look confused. Mr. Schuester winced. "Of all the days. . .," he thought to himself.

Then Calvin seemed to think to himself, and he abruptly straightened up with a clear 'eureka' look on his face. Mr. Schuester watched closely as the now suddenly no longer angry Autistic directed a sidelong glance towards Hobbes, an almost smug grin now on his face.

"Hobbes."

As Mr. Schuester and the other students watched, the dog turned his head towards his master at the sound of his name. Calvin pointed at Charlotte, and said "Danger." Immediately after hearing this, Hobbes whipped his head towards Charlotte and snarled furiously. Charlotte's confident and arrogant smile faded as she watched this scene unfold, for this was not what she'd expected. Mr. Schuester and the other students couldn't help but also be surprised at the sight.

As Hobbes snarled viciously at Charlotte, Calvin smiled, and said, "As you can see, Hobbes is very well trained. Simply by pointing at something or someone and saying the word 'danger,' he instantly learns to consider it as a threat to me, his master. Therefore, with you now considered as a threat to me in his eyes, you need only to make it even seem as if your about to do harm to me, and he will do everything in his power to protect me."

Charlotte, angered by how Calvin was daring to brag about his dog when he should have already been cowed down into furiously running after her to attack her, rose furiously up from her seat and stormed resolutely towards the boy. With an angry snarl on her face, she indignantly began, "Ok do you seriously expect me to believe. . .?"

All of two seconds after Charlotte started talking, she was suddenly knocked down on her back hard with a scream. . . by what appeared to be a barking brown and black blur. And of course, when Mr. Schuester and the students that were still seated managed to get a good look, the blur turned out to be none other than Hobbes. And at that moment, as Mr. Schuester watched in shock and the other seated students watched in what seemed more like an awestruck wonder, the clearly angry German shepherd stood over the downed head cheerleader, his hind paws on her stomach, his front paws positioned on either side of her neck, and his head positioned so that he was now furiously barking right in her face. Mr. Schuester was speechless as he watched. "Didn't see that coming," he thought to himself.

The teacher saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned his head in time to see Calvin walk over to where Hobbes was still barking at the incapacitated Charlotte. Seconds later, Calvin placed his foot down on her chest, leaned over with a cold look on his face, and said, "Now you listen to me you little bitch. I will have none of your conceited princess attitude against me. You are now my enemy, and with the position you're in now, all I have to do is say the right command word, and Hobbes will rip you apart. And I won't stop him either. Now you are going to let me finish, and you will not repeat what you just did to me with anyone else this lesson, or you will rue this day for the rest of your newly reduced life. Got it?"

Charlotte didn't respond. This seemed to anger Calvin further, as Mr. Schuester then heard the boy unleash a disturbingly realistic tiger-like growl before he leaned down at Charlotte's face again and shouted, "I said, GOT IT!?"

Charlotte's widened eyes and gaping mouth could have easily matched the look that Mr. Schuester was almost certain he now had on his own face. As the teacher watched, Charlotte continued to gaze in terror at the two angry figures staring down at her face. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Charlotte gulped nervously, and then managed to croak, "Yes, I got it beast. . ."

Calvin abruptly snarled, clearly not amused by Charlotte's choice of word to refer to him by, and he tensed up as if about to lift his right hand and shout. Mr. Schuester gaped in stunned horror at the sight of this. "Is he seriously. . .?" he thought to himself.

Fortunately, Mr. Schuester was able to avoid finding out the answer to this question when Charlotte hurriedly shouted, "I meant Calvin! Yes! I got it Calvin!"

By that point, Calvin had lifted his right hand all the way up in the air, and had seemed virtually seconds away from giving the command word that would have spelled instant doom for Charlotte. After a tense moment of silence, Calvin snarled, lowered his hand, and lifted his foot off Charlotte's chest. He turned his head to Hobbes and said, "Hobbes, off." The dog got off Charlotte, and the cheerleader hurriedly got up and rushed straight back to her chair.

As soon as Charlotte was back in her chair, Calvin and Hobbes headed back to where they'd been before the unpleasant incident with Charlotte. The instant Calvin turned back to face the other members once again, he was smiling again, and he said, "So! Where was I?"

The other members, who had been looking in awe at the way Calvin and Hobbes had handled the potentially ugly situation, were quick to remind him that he had been about to tell them about some of the other tricks that Hobbes could do. Mr. Schuester shook his head side to side with a quite bewildered look on his face. "Sheesh, that girl must _really_ be hated if they're reacting this way to her narrowly avoiding getting killed."

Calvin smiled, and said, "Exactly. Well as you can see, he is a very well trained body guard of mine. Also, I have trained him to sometimes join in with me when I perform certain songs, move or stay in a specific spot without having to use a leash when in familiar places, and to never consume any food or liquid that isn't his own food or water in his food and water bowls. And there are also a few other things, but now back to me. Being autistic, I have great difficulty in social situations. However, I have already had two very good friends in my life from very early ages in my life. Susan Caraway has been my best friend since preschool, and Hobbes has been one of my greatest family allies ever since we first got to know each other as master and pet. However, I hope very much to develop close friendships with all other members of this club that I don't later consider an enemy. Also, I have a variety of interests, including animals, dinosaurs, fantastical creatures, and a large number of other things. In fact, I would like very much to work with the animals at a zoo when I grow up. Once again, I hope that the majority of you become my friends."

The other students clapped and cheered as Calvin returned to his seat. Hobbes followed close behind his master and lay back down on his side at Calvin's feet when the boy sat down. Mr. Schuester nodded his head in an almost numb fashion, both happy to know all the facts that Calvin had revealed about himself, but also still somewhat unnerved by the tense situation that had unfolded. "He might take some time to get used to," the teacher thought to himself. "Let's hope things don't get too tense in his regard. I don't even want to think of what could happen if he were to outright lose his cool entirely." At that moment, he then noticed Calvin and Daniel seemingly exchanging a few words even though Diana and the tanned skinned brunette were sitting between them. Judging from the looks on their faces and Daniel's briefly pointing his finger in Charlotte's direction, it was clear that they were in agreement over a common enemy. "Well at least he now seems to have found a good potential new friend this early in the game," he thought to himself.

The tanned skinned brunette rose from her seat and took her place at the area where Calvin, Diana, and Daniel had stood. She smiled warmly, her blue eyes agleam. "Hello everyone," she said with a slight wave of her hand. "My name is Susan Caraway."

She gestured over towards Calvin and Hobbes. "You just met my especially good friends Calvin and Hobbes. And I apologize for the drama that unfolded not too long ago."

Diana, Daniel, and 7 of the other students chuckled upon hearing this. Calvin smiled warmly at his friend. Charlotte, meanwhile, rolled her eyes and glared in annoyance in Charlotte's direction. However, Mr. Schuester couldn't help but direct a watchful eye towards the African American boy. He couldn't tell for certain, but it almost seemed as if the boy was paying a little _too_ much attention to Susan herself rather than what she was saying.

Susan chuckled alongside the 9 giggling other glee clubbers, clearly not at all aware of the scrutiny she was receiving from the one boy. "I'd also like to inform you that you've also received a warm introduction to my gal pal Diana." Diana nodded her head in agreement as if to add further confirmation about her being a good friend of Susan's.

"However," Susan continued, placing her hands on her hips in the process. "One thing that Calvin and I, plus potentially Hobbes, are currently hoping to come from our being in this club, is for us to expand our roster of friends." She gestured her hand towards Calvin once more. "As Calvin made quite clear, it's rather difficult for him to make friends without help due to his condition. And I myself have had my share of difficulty at making friends as well since very few people I know have really been all that willing to associate with Calvin."

The Autistic boy nodded his head with his eyes closed. Mr. Schuester felt a sense of sympathy flare up in his heart at the sight. "They've certainly come to the right place," he thought to himself.

"As much as I'm sure that Calvin and I will have plenty to offer for this club where singing, dancing, and perhaps even acting are concerned, the two of us, and Hobbes, hope very much that at least someone among you will be willing to give us a chance at friendship with you." She nodded her head. "Because really, as good of a friend Calvin, Hobbes, and Diana have all been to me, we'd all greatly appreciate it if you were to allow yourselves to perhaps become our friends as well. Because honestly, as different and unconventional his Autism might make him, Calvin his still a human like all of us. And just because I am a firm and loyal friend of his doesn't mean I should be treated as if I'm a freak any more than he should be." She nodded her head. "Once again, I hope this year for Calvin, Hobbes, and I to meet some valuable new friends amongst you all." Susan returned to her seat, and Mr. Schuester couldn't help but smile when he saw Calvin and Diana simultaneously place their hands on her shoulders from their respective sides as if to silently reassure her that they would be there for her regardless of whether or not any of the other members became friends with them over the course of their time in the New Directions together.

The African American boy rose from his seat and took his spot at the silently reserved area for introductions. He clasped his hands together, a wide smile gleaming on his dark face. "Good morning people," he said. "I am Zachary Skinner, but you can just call me Zack. How's that sound?"

Scattered chuckling came from the other students. Daniel just rolled his eyes, Calvin just narrowed his eyes as if still trying to get a good read on Zach, and the two girls sitting between them just shook their heads side to side with indifferent looks on their faces.

Zach did not seem at all phased by the response from his fellow glee clubbers, and he chuckled. "Well nonetheless, I'm sure you've all probably heard of me in some way or another. After all, with my little history of partying and other . . . unique activities . . . I figure that, unless you're a Freshman, it would be an absolute miracle if you haven't indeed heard about me in some fashion or other."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Schuester found himself mentally placing a puzzle piece into position. "I remember now," he thought to himself. Truth be told, he had indeed heard about this boy's history. From what he remembered, the boy seemed to be quite the legend around the McKinley High students this time and age. With all the talk he'd heard about the boy's reportedly quite wild parties, the glowering and grumbling he'd heard from just about every guy foolish enough to pick a fight with him, and the absolute glowing words that he'd heard a sizable number of girls use to describe their experiences with him, Mr. Schuester couldn't help but feel as if his old student, Noah "Puck" Puckerman had somehow passed on his DNA and mind into an African American teenage clone of himself. "Here's to hoping he's not too much of a handful," he thought to himself.

"Why did I join this club?" Zach chuckled. "Well for starters, as I think you were all able to hear during my audition, I am a pretty snazzy singer if I do say so myself." He chuckled again. "However, there is one especially important reason that has nothing to do with any musical or similarly show choir oriented talent on my part." He pointed at Daniel. "Diana isn't the only student in here who's a close friend of Daniel's. I to, am a strong companion of his. Suffice it to say, cliché as it may sound, we're basically brothers in all but blood and name." He folded his arms across his chest, a determined look now on his face. "As Daniel has made clear, he has some very important goals of his own he hopes to accomplish by the end of his time here at McKinley High over the course of his membership in this club. And by God, as his friend, I'm going to make damn well sure that he gets those goals accomplished. Because that's what friends do. Isn't that right?"

Upon hearing this, Daniel, Diana, and all the other students nodded their heads. Even Charlotte found herself grudgingly acknowledging with a nod that Zach did have a valid point in his statement. Zach smiled. "Thank you." He bowed, and then straightened up. "Alrighty then," he said. "Next up."

Zach returned to his seat, and none other than Charlotte was the next student to walk up to introduce herself. She stood tall before the gathered students still seated. Mr. Schuester watched her intently from his position at the side. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself. Even now, he was still hoping that she'd yet prove potentially capable of developing into a nicer girl the way previous students like her, such as Quinn Fabray and Kitty Wilde among others, had managed to do.

"Hello," Charlotte said simply. "For those of you who've not yet had the pleasure of hearing about me, I am Charlotte Thornton." The other students, except for Zach, showed no visible sign of reaction, and maintained guarded, but otherwise emotionless, glances at her. Zach, on the other hand, was visibly smiling. Charlotte continued. "Yep, that's me, top of the class, top of the food chain, top of the pyramid. I've got it all."

She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "At least, that's what I always thought." She directed her gaze back at the assembled students in front of her. "But recently, I've become aware of something missing. I will admit, I still can't tell for certain exactly what it is that's missing. But I feel its absence nonetheless." She nodded her head. "And as you can probably guess, I've decided that doing time in the glee club could potentially help me find it. Why I think so? Honestly, no idea. Call it a hunch really."

Charlotte took a deep breath once more. "Nonetheless," she continued. "Regardless of the results of my little search, I hope very much that I'll look back on my time in this club with fond memories." She made an obvious and rather drawn out curtsy. "Thank you very much." She started walking back to her seat. "Next," she said in an almost dismissive tone.

A seventh student rose from his seat and made his way up to the introduction point. This particular student was the albino boy. And as Mr. Schuester watched the boy take his place at the introduction spot, he also noticed what seemed to be a slight metallic clinking and clanging in his ears occurring while the boy was walking. This noise reminded him of another detail that had been in plain sight at the auditions last Friday; the boy's legs were metallic prosthetics designed to resemble steel skeleton legs.

For a couple seconds, the boy stood facing his audience, an almost blank look in his crimson eyes. Then a small smile came on his face, and he directed a small wave at the other 12 students seated in front of him. "Hello everyone," said the albino boy. "My name is Dunlap Carmichael, and as you have probably noticed, I am McKinley High's resident albino." He nodded his head. "I will admit, if any of you felt the need to look away from me not too long ago, I'm not surprised, nor at all heartbroken. You wouldn't be the first."

Dunlap clasped his hands together, intertwining his fingers in the process. "Honestly, I don't really know how I managed to be this way. Just about everyone in my family agrees that it came basically out of nowhere." He looked down towards his legs. "And this isn't the only abnormal aspect of me either. It's just the only one that I was born with."

Dunlap reached down towards the bottom of his left pants leg. The other students all watched, clearly remembering the sight of his legs uncovered from the day of the auditions and aware of what was coming. "When I was 10-years old, I ended up getting these." At the exact moment he said that last word, he lifted his left pants leg sufficiently enough to allow everyone else in the room to get a clear view of the resulting uncovered portion of his metallic left leg. Mr. Schuester nodded his head silently at the sight of this. He had definitely seen this part coming.

Dunlap nodded his head, and rolled his pants leg back down. "Yep, definitely not something you would see every day." He straightened back up and looked at his assembled audience once more. "And as I'm sure won't be at all surprising to you, these legs of mine, combined with my albinism, has made it understandably quite difficult for me to make any friends. I mean hey, you all know what it's like here in Lima. And trust me, there are plenty of people I've met over the course of my life so far that have been either scared of me, bullied me, or likewise didn't care to spend that much time around me anyhow."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Schuester noticed how all the students apart from Charlotte had clear looks of understanding and sympathy on their faces. Calvin had even closed his eyes and was nodding his head up and down with a facial expression that couldn't have been a more obvious silent means of saying 'I can relate'.

Dunlap nodded his head. "Granted, I'm not 100% friendless. As you may or may not have noticed last Friday during the auditions. There are three other students here in my grade who've been especially good friends of me since we were all elementary school age." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But regardless, sometimes, even a small group like us needs a little more people to add to the ranks. And as members of this club, we all hope to find exactly the people we need to fill in the ranks of our roster of friends. Believe me, as close as my three current friends and I already are, we could really use the added companionship just as much as the Autistic boy." Calvin nodded his head once again. The other students, apart from Charlotte of course, likewise appeared to agree. Dunlap cleared his throat. "Thank you." He returned to his seat.

Before sitting down though, Dunlap worked to help another student, the ginger haired girl, up from her seat. As Mr. Schuester watched, he mentally face palmed as he noticed Dunlap hand the girl a distinctive white cane with a red handle. "I forgot," he thought to himself. "She's blind. How could I have forgotten that?"

With some assistance from Dunlap, the ginger haired girl managed to make her way over to the position for introduction. The instant the girl was firmly positioned at the right spot, Dunlap hurried back to his seat.

Seconds after Dunlap had returned to his seat, the girl took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Hello," she managed to say. "My name is Naomi Bright." She gestured vaguely in Dunlap's direction. "As you may have guessed from watching the boy who went before me help me out, I am one of the 3 companions he mentioned having before joining this club." She nodded her head.

"There are people I know from elementary school who may claim that the only reason I even gave Dunlap so much as the slightest chance at being my friend was because of how I was unable to see how much of a hideous freak he was. But as I have said to them, I am more than willing to tell you all right now that such claims couldn't be further from the truth." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled as if trying to keep herself calm. It seemed that this matter was a bit of a sore topic for her.

"Anyway," she continued. "Like Dunlap himself made clear, as close as he and I are, and as strong of a friendship we have together alongside our other two close allies, we hope just as much nonetheless to find more friends amongst you to add to our little fellowship." She hung her head, and then sighed. "Also, another reason we all joined this club is because . . . well . . . last year, our Freshman year, I underwent a not entirely pleasant experience. And to put it simply, despite the reputation I've heard this club has developed as being a haven for drama, we all hope that being a member of this club will be the experience I need to properly recover, emotionally heal, and move on." She nodded her head. "I'm already blind, and I've already got only three close friends and their families to turn to when it comes to my problems. The last thing I need, or that any of us need, is to be alone." She nodded her head once more. "Once again, I hope to have a good experience in this club. Thank you." Almost as if he'd been given a telepathic signal, Dunlap wordlessly got up from his seat and helped Naomi back to her own seat.

The next student to rise from his seat and take his position at the introduction post was the 2nd ginger haired student amongst the group. As he turned to face the other 12 students in the club, Mr. Schuester once again took careful note of how the boy's eyes seemed for some strange reason to be yellow.

The boy cleared his throat, looked carefully at each of the other students to make sure that they were paying attention, and then began to speak. "Greetings everyone," he said, a faint Scottish accent present in his voice. "My name is Darren McCrimmon. And yes, as you may have noticed from my voice, I am of Scottish descent."

His eyes narrowed. "And before anyone asks." At the exact moment he said the last two words, he directed a meaningful glare towards Charlotte. " _No_ , I have not undergone some strange genetic mutation, my mom did _not_ have cat DNA injected into her while she was pregnant with me, and I do _not_ take nicotine. These are contact lenses. No more, no less." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily. "And _no_ , I do not wear these yellow contact lenses because I'm satanic, crazy, or otherwise not all there. I wear them strictly because I think they look cool."

Darren took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Nonetheless, I very much hope to both prove myself a worthy addition to this club and to enjoy myself. Furthermore, since I might as well get this out of the way," he gestured towards Dunlap and Naomi. "The two students you had the pleasure of being introduced to right before me? They're pals of mine."

Darren cleared his throat. "And finally, much like Naomi, and somewhat like Dunlap, I to have my own personal reasons for joining this club besides talent and being alongside my friends." He took a deep breath. "The thing is," he began. "My academic history before high school? It wasn't exactly what you'd call normal. And to be honest, it's really only thanks to my 3 pals I already have here at this school with me that I've been able to make it all the way to my sophomore year in high school without completely screwing things up for myself through my own awkwardness." He took another deep breath. "Needless to say, being a member of this club . . . it's something I hope very much to be an opportunity to further develop and become comfortable with my life as a high school student. Because believe me, my life's already been difficult enough before now both in school and out of school." He nodded his head, and started walking back to his seat. "Carry on."

No sooner had Darren finally sat back down when the 4th member of the little quartet seated in that area, a blonde girl with contrasting black eyes, rose from her seat and took her own place at the introductory spot. "Good morning everyone," said the girl. "My name is Amber Lawson, and as you can probably guess by now, the 3 students who introduced themselves to you before me are especially good friends of mine. In fact, it is an especially great honor that all four of us have made it into this club, as doing something like this is a wish we've been dreaming of and hoping to fulfill since the summer after our 7th grade year in middle school."

Amber nodded her head. "And much like my 3 companions, I wish to both prove myself truly worthy of the membership I've been granted in regards to my skill at singing and similar activities related to glee club, as well as to further expand my roster of friends." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And much like Naomi, I experienced some dark times of my own last year, and I hope that my experiences in this club will turn out to be exactly what I need to finally get it all put behind me so that I can move on. And in the event that doing so allows me and my other pals to have a large number of those amongst the rest of you becoming our friends, then double joy right?"

All the other students but Charlotte were very quick to nod and mumble in agreement. Hobbes even gave a light growl combined with an up and down nod of his head as if to give off his own means of agreement. Amber chuckled. "Well that's good." She nodded her head. "Again, hope to enjoy my life as a member of this club. Happy to meet you all." She started walking back to her seat. "Here's to having fun everyone."

The Korean American boy rose from his seat immediately after Amber had sat back down. When he was ready to begin his own introduction, he paused just long enough to clear his throat. "Greetings fellow glee clubbers," he began. "My name is Cody Nakamura." He paused briefly to readjust the position of his glasses. "As you may or may not remember hearing me say at the auditions last Friday, the quarterback ain't the only one amongst us who has an idol amongst the previous generations of New Directions members. I to have such an idol. My idol? The famous dancer Mike Chang."

The other students were very quick to mumble in agreement or likewise make note of the fact. Mr. Schuester silently nodded. "Certainly doesn't hurt to get that little reminder," he thought to himself.

"And as you all might remember from my audition, I would say that I myself am either an exact equal, or a close enough runner up, to Mike Chang in regards to my dancing ability."

Immediately after Cody said this, he lifted his right leg while simultaneously lifting both of his arms above his head and causing himself to spin 5 times in a counterclockwise circle. The other students oohed and awed at the display, and Mr. Schuester smiled with a nod of his head.

Cody came to a stop, cleared his throat, and continued. "Of course, my singing ability isn't something to be ashamed of either. But again, much like I hear Mike Chang was during his own time in this club, I myself am somewhat more comfortable with my dancing then I am with my singing. So there." The other students, bar Charlotte yet again, nodded their heads.

"Furthermore, much like virtually everyone else who's gone before me, I have my own personally important reasons for taking part in this club." He took a deep breath, exhaled, and readjusted his glasses. "Right now, I'm a key player in two major points of drama. To be more specific, I am both hard at work in efforts to win the heart of a girl I've come to develop feelings for and in the midst of trying to resolve a rather strong feud that's arisen between me and another close friend of mine."

Cody hung his head, and then sighed. "I'm sure what I'm about to say next is pretty obvious knowledge, but these two situations are not something that I can easily solve period, let alone through use of my dancing." He looked back up. "But nonetheless, this baggage of mine? Both situations are serious matters, and ones that I very much hope to resolve without having to worry about potentially leaving either the girl or the old buddy holding the metaphorical short end of the stick."

He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And in the event that I prove myself lucky enough to make several more brand new friends amongst all the members who've had the pleasure of introducing themselves before me over the course of my time in this club, the more the merrier I guess." He nodded his head. "Thank you." He made his way back to his seat. "That will be all."

The next student to rise from her seat and take position at the introductory spot was the African American girl that had been seated directly between the two Asian American boys, and she did not take long at all to make a lasting impression. "Hello ya'll," said the girl. "My name is Bailey Kellogg, and I hope that my membership in this club will be the next big step to my potentially becoming a star."

She lifted up her hands as if to forestall any comments. "I get it, I see the looks on your face, and I'll admit, that's a pretty bold thing for me to say. But please, do let me explain."

At that moment, the two Asian American boys were the only students who didn't look either confused, intimidated, or similarly put off. Mr. Schuester himself couldn't help but mentally whistle at the girl's rather spunky attitude. "Warning," he thought to himself. "Incoming diva."

"I'm not at all saying that none of you should try to become a star as well, or that I'm going to be actively trying to compete with any other hopeful star power amongst you for the sake of some petty title amongst our ranks. I just genuinely hope for my time in this club to allow me to become well on the way to potential future stardom of my own. And believe me, that audition I had for you last Friday?" She shook her head, an amused grin on her face. "That sure as Hell wasn't the last you'll be seeing of my talent."

Her face took on a more serious expression. "And my talent ain't the only reason I joined this club either." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Let's just say, this club is no stranger to drama. And with that in mind, especially in regard to some admittedly quite serious matters between me and two close pals of mine, I'm bound to fit in just fine."

The 10 students who'd been initially put off by Bailey's overbearing vocal diva aura unconsciously turned their heads to stare meaningfully at Cody and the only student left who hadn't yet introduced himself. The two Asian Americans shrugged noncommittally.

"Nevertheless," said Bailey, smile back on her face. "Here's to hoping that I both get well on the way to potential future stardom, that me and my two pals get our shit together over the course of our membership, and that I make a good collection of brand new pals amongst you all." She bowed. "Thank you." She straightened up, and returned to her seat with a completely nonchalant look on her face. "Next up," she said in what couldn't have possibly been a more casual sounding tone.

There was only one student left to formally introduce himself. That student, was the tall Indian American boy. No sooner had Bailey sat back down at her initial spot between him and Cody when he rose from his seat and took his place at the introductory spot. And when he began, he had a smile on his face. "Hello everyone," said the boy. "I am Raj Patel." He clasped his hands together, fingers intertwining. "And I am very pleased indeed to meet you all, and very much look forward to getting to know you all some more over the course of our glorious time together in this club."

The 10 students who'd gone before Cody and Bailey very noticeably looked quite happy, albeit stunned, at how very affable, personable, and friendly Raj was turning out to be. Cody and Bailey let out a low chuckle in unison upon sight of how their 10 peers were reacting. "That's Raj for you," they thought to themselves.

Raj chuckled. "I can see from your reactions that you appear to view me as quite an intriguing character. And I will admit, you most certainly are not wrong to think such a thing about me." He spread his hands and arms out to his sides nonchalantly. "Well, I am of the same race as Ghandi, so there's that."

The other students couldn't help but chuckle at this comment. Raj chuckled as well. "Well nonetheless, I for one hope to have lots of fun in this club." He nodded his head. "And I certainly wouldn't mind if we really got into the swing of things here." He leaned forward dramatically, an almost comically serious expression on his face. "Forget Life of Pi yo," he said in an almost robotic sounding voice. "Me am Life of Party!"

All 12 of the other students burst out laughing. Even Charlotte found herself laughing, even going so far as to cover her mouth with both hands to try to keep herself together. It seemed even she had to admit that Raj's joke was actually pretty funny. Mr. Schuester himself briefly had to turn his head away and clench tightly onto his seat to keep himself from all out falling apart in hysterical laughter. And the real crowning jewel of the moment? _Hobbes_ was actually letting out a series of gurgling snorts, and with a look on his face that couldn't have been a more obvious canine equivalent of an expression of amusement. Yes. Even the _dog_ amongst the group clearly seemed to think that Raj's joke was funny.

Eventually, Raj managed to finally get them all calmed down, and he cleared his throat before continuing. "In particular, I hope especially much to enjoy my time in this club. Why? The most important reason, is because I'm a senior." He nodded his head. "Yes, that's correct. I am a senior. This is my last year. And as you can see, I have only now _just_ finally managed to make it into becoming a member of this club." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And with all that in mind, even though this shall be both my first and my last year in this club, I hope very much to enjoy my time in this club, have the honor to be able to refer to as many of you as possible as my friends, look back on my time here with pride and joy in the future, and feel proud to have received the honor of being a gleek." He bowed. "Once again, I am very pleased to meet you, and couldn't feel more honored to be a part of this club alongside you. I hope very much that I will not prove to regret being a member of this club." He straightened back up, and then nodded his head. "Thank you." He nodded his head, and then silently returned to his seat.

After about a minute or two, Mr. Schuester got up from his seat and moved over to where all the students had stood one by one to give their introductions. "Well I'm glad that we've all gotten to know each other better," said the teacher. "Now, who can tell me what's coming up for us in two months from now?"

Darren raised his hand.

"Yes Darren?"

Darren lowered his hand and replied, "Would I be correct in guessing Sectionals?"

"Correct!" Mr. Schuester shouted happily in response, and all the other members cheered in excitement.

"Alright everyone!" said Mr. Schuester. "With that in mind, we need to make sure that we all have our act together for that. Therefore, since you are all completely new to this club, I want to make sure that we try our hardest in preparing for your first competition. Bad news, I am afraid I will have to inform you that the musical was moved to after Sectionals due to technical difficulties."

At the sound of the disappointed noises that the glee clubbers made, Mr. Schuester continued, "However, a few months from now, we shall be doing the old New Directions tradition of the mash-up competition between the boys and the girls of this club!"

The New Directions all cheered upon hearing this news, just as Mr. Schuester had hoped. "Now, I shall go over one other thing before I tell you about the week's assignment. How many of you have watched either all eight, or at least some of the Harry Potter movies?"

All thirteen students raised their hands.

Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Alright, now remember what Harry said to Voldemort about love and friendship in the fifth movie?"

The New Directions kids nodded to indicate yes.

"Alright," Mr. Schuester continued. "Now here's the thing, an underlying message that was made in what was said about those two things in that movie, is how love and friendship are among the most valuable things in the world, yet can't be bought with money or created artificially. But there is also another aspect about these two things that relates them to another valuable element of life; trust."

Mr. Schuester walked over to the white board and wrote the word 'trust' on it. He turned to face his new students. "Now love and friendship have two things in common. The first of these I have already told you. They are among the most valuable things in the world, and are even more so because they are among the few things of value that can't be bought or created artificially. If they could, then they would be worthless. However, the other thing these two elements have in common makes them very similar indeed to trust, which is in turn like ice." Upon saying this, Mr. Schuester drew a picture of a frozen lake with cracks spread out all over the surface of the ice.

He looked back at his students, who he was pleased to notice were still gazing intently and with interest. "Now ice, as those of you who've taken biology might know, is water in its solid form. Also, natural ice takes a very long time to form and build up. However, despite how long it can take to form, it is very easy to break as seen in this drawing on the white board. In that regard, trust is very much like ice. Like ice, trust is easy to break, but takes time to build. These facts are all very important information for the glee club, for in order for us to truly make it, we all need to be able to trust each other, and for this to truly be a happy memory for all of us, friendship is the key to trust."

Mr. Schuester leaned forward, and said, "That being said, I am counting on you to work as best as you can to not only train as hard as you can for your performing, singing, dancing, and other skills for the club, but to also develop strong friendships between each other and to be able to trust each other."

All the other students were noticeably silent upon hearing him say this. The silence lasted for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, right as Mr. Schuester to fee a slight twinge of worry, he saw all 13 of the students make silent facial expressions in unison that were indicative of a whistle. He smiled. Clearly, his words had had a very real and strong impact on his 13 brand new students for the glee club. "And good thing to," he thought to himself. "Because glee club, by its very definition, is designed to allow us all to open ourselves up to joy. And if that isn't enough to make this a truly epic club, then I don't know what is."

Eventually, Mr. Schuester said "Alright with that being said, I shall discuss one other thing with you while telling about this week's assignment with you all. Do any of you remember Cody's audition yesterday?" All the glee club members replied that they did.

Mr. Schuester nodded. "As you may or may not also remember," he responded, "when I complemented Cody on his dancing, he told me that he was inspired to become a great dancer by watching Mike Chang himself on MTV. How many of you have heard of the famous dancer Mike Chang?" The New Directions raised their hands.

Mr. Schuester then said, "Well as you probably already know, Mike Chang was once sitting in this very room as one of my students many years ago. Long before he became a famous dancer, he was just another ordinary student like you. Now he's gone far in his life all thanks to his time in the New Directions, and has even inspired one of you guys to be just like him. That being said, I shall ask all of you one question; do you have a personal idol among former members of this club that are now famous?" All thirteen students immediately replied.

Diana: "Yes. Rachel Berry."

Daniel: "Finn Hudson."

Calvin: "Sam Evans."

Susan: "Mercedes Jones Evans."

Zack: "Noah Puckerman."

Charlotte: "Quinn Fabray."

Dunlap: "Artie Abrams."

Naomi: "Santana Lopez."

Darren: "Joseph Hart."

Amber: "Brittany Pearce."

Cody: "Mike Chang."

Bailey: "Tina Cohen Chang."

Raj: "I actually have two. Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson."

At the sound of hearing how such a large majority of his former students served as idols and sources of inspiration for his new students, Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Well in that case, I am happy to inform you that the assignment of this week is," before turning around, erasing what he'd already written on the white board, and writing down:

 **WWNDD**

 **What Would the New Directions Do?**

At the sight of this, the thirteen brand new members of the New Directions cheered. Mr. Schuester eagerly responded to this, "That's right everyone! This week, I want each of you to perform a song that you think that your own personal idol among the New Directions alumni would do!" The cheering of the New Directions members reached fever pitch after Mr. Schuester shouted this.

Eventually, Mr. Schuester raised his hand, and the thirteen students went silent. Mr. Schuester said, "Alright now one more thing. Just so you know; I am happy to inform you that if things go as planned, there will be something going on later this year at around the time that we will hopefully be preparing for Regionals that I know that you will all enjoy very much. And by that, I'm not referring to the school musical."

The New Directions members looked at each other, all very intrigued by what this special treat might be.

Dunlap said, "What is it?"

Mr. Schuester responded, "It's a surprise. However, I can tell you right now that it is something that you will definitely find worth looking forward to."

The bell rang seconds after Mr. Schuester finished saying this. Mr. Schuester said, "Well there's the bell. Remember, after school, we will all meet up here for our first true meeting. And remember the week's assignment!"

The students all gathered up their supplies and belongings and exited the glee club room to head to their classes, all of them eagerly awaiting the wonders and fun times to come.

By the time all the students had departed, Mr. Schuester shook his head side to side, chuckling to himself. "Yep," he thought to himself. "I am definitely going to enjoy myself with this new generation of New Directions." He nodded his head, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Here's me hoping for yet another enjoyable experience at today's after school session." He exited the choir room, head held high, smile on his face, and a noticeable determined aura in the way he looked and moved. Admittedly, he could already tell just from the introductions his students had given that this year would once again have a healthy dosage of drama in regards to his work with the New Directions, as per usual. But he didn't care. So far, the first lesson had come and gone without disaster striking. Today was a brand new day of a brand new school year. And he had now gotten firmly on the way to getting to know and properly working with a now very firmly established new generation of New Directions. "And by God," he thought to himself as he continued to make his way through the hallways of McKinley High to reach the classroom where he taught American History, "they are ready to show this school what they've got."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Here's me hoping you all enjoyed this chapter and that you leave plenty of feedback! Admittedly, this chapter is somewhat of a rehash of chapter 5 from the main GWAF story. But bear in mind, this new chapter shows the events of that chapter almost entirely from the point of view of Mr. Schuester. Plus, you also get treated this time to the introductions given by all 13 of the NND (whereas in the original chapter 5 of GWAF, you only got directly exposed to the introductions given by Diana, Daniel, and Calvin; so there). Again, all in all, I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter, that it was worth the wait, and that I receive plenty of feedback from you all. Remember, I require a minimum of 3 reviews for this chapter in order for me to post the next chapter. And again, no flames allowed.**

 **Coming up next: In the last hours that remain before the after school session of glee club, two of the brand new members of the New Directions (namely, a certain quarterback and head cheerleader) find themselves thinking carefully and undergoing some important thoughts and reflections during practice of their respective other activities they attend alongside Glee club. But while the quarterback has thoughts on his mind that are of his usual gentle and 'nice guy' type of nature, the head cheerio's thoughts are far from pleasant (at least where the readers and all the gleek people we're supposed to be rooting for at this point in the GWAFU are concerned). Sound fun? I certainly hope so!**


	3. Reflections at Practice

**Hey there people! I'm back! So sorry you've had to wait so long, but hey, such is life. But fortunately, thanks to Alex Goode and AquaDestiny'sEmbrace finally allowing the minimum review quote for the previous chapter to be fulfilled, you all get the promised newest chapter (which I'd actually managed to get done a good few days earlier than now as a result of how long I've been waiting; no offense). In this new chapter, we get to see a certain jock and a certain cheerio having some thoughts to themselves during their practice sessions to be engaged in before the after-school session of glee club. What will the inner workings of their mind have to offer for us? How about I let you all find out in this new chapter? I say that's a good idea. Don't you?**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all, I do not own Glee. Nor do I own either of the two songs to be featured in this chapter . . . YES, you read correctly. As of this chapter, songs are finally entering into the mix ^_^. That being said, what are we waiting for? Onward! With! The! Fic!**

 **Chapter 3:**

 **Reflections at Practice**

Quite a few hours later, Daniel Taymor found himself tensed up in a crouching position that indicated that he would soon take off in a headlong dash, his right hand firmly grasped around a football lying on the ground in front of him. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself.

Sure enough, the air was split with the sound of a whistle. Upon hearing it, Daniel was off like a shot. All the other players gathered on the football field likewise zoomed off into action. Within mere seconds, it was utter chaos as Daniel rushed and bulled his way down the field, trying his absolute best to avoid getting successfully tackled to the ground. By a sheer miracle, he managed to avoid being taken down long enough to reach the exact spot he wished to reach. And upon reaching that spot, he promptly drew back his right arm and hurled the ball through the air towards the distinctive touch down post. And as had proved very often the case just about every other time he'd done such an action, the football soared effortlessly through the post. In other words, instant touchdown.

"Yes!" he yelled. "Another one!"

"Alright everyone. That's a wrap."

Daniel and all the other football players on the field turned their heads in the direction they heard the voice, and saw Coach Shannon Bieste standing on the side of the field. Clearly, she both appeared to be in approval of what had gone down, and had now deemed practice to be over for the time being.

"Good work everyone," said the coach. "At this rate, if you can continue to do this good in the upcoming games as well as in future practice sessions, the other schools we'll be playing against this year aren't gonna stand a chance!"

"Yeah, as per freaking usual."

Daniel mentally sighed, and rolled his eyes upon hearing this whisper. He turned his head. Sure enough, he could see an annoyed looking Miles Surette standing not too far behind him. Clearly, the linebacker was a bit miffed at their coach's words due to how the McKinley High Titans had only ever lost a game once, possibly twice, since Coach Bieste had replaced Ken Tanaka all the way back in the fall-winter semester of 2010. "Well excuse us all for being confident," Daniel thought to himself sarcastically.

"Take the time to rest now everyone," Coach Bieste continued. "In about a half hour, I want us all to go over the plays one more time, and then you're all free to go."

"Yes coach," all the players said in unison, some of them sounding more like they were grumbling than others. They all split up and made their way to various areas of the field.

Daniel himself came to a stop nearby a chainmail fence near one of the corners of the field. He leaned his back up against it, arms folded across his chest, a contented sigh escaping from his mouth. Today was certainly turning out to be a good day for him so far. "Doing good in my classes," he thought to himself. "My first proper session of the glee club as a member unfolded pleasantly enough, I still haven't lost my game in regards to football, I don't really have all that much homework for today, and Charlotte has more or less left me alone for almost the entirety of my time at school today so far." He nodded his head. "Yep. So far, so good."

At the sound of chuckling and lighthearted conversing coming from behind him, Daniel turned his head. Gathered around a good couple feet or so away from him in that direction were three other jocks who had an important sports related position like him, but in different sports. One of the three boys, and the only black one amongst the trio, was his best friend Zach Skinner, captain of the basketball team. The other two, however, were jocks that Daniel wasn't entirely sure he really cared that much about. Both were white, one of them blonde and the other dark-haired like himself. The blonde boy with hazel eyes was Becket Nelson, captain of the hockey team. The dark-haired boy, on the other hand, was Donovan Gunderson, captain of the baseball team.

Daniel sighed, and turned his head away. He honestly had no idea how Zach could stand being around Becket and Donovan. Admittedly, Donovan had shown the potential of being a nice guy. Becket, however, was not exactly the friendliest kid on the block, and signs of influence had more than once seemed to unpleasantly rub off on Donovan. Then he remembered how both Becket and Donovan had girlfriends amongst the McKinley High cheerleading squad, and his eyes narrowed. Much like with Donovan and Becket, he'd managed to become far more acquainted with their girlfriends over the course of his time at McKinley High then he wanted.

Becket's girlfriend, Silena Townsend, was the 2nd highest ranking member of the squad, and she had just the right attitude to be the perfect bitch to compliment Becket's overall jerkassery. Donovan's girlfriend, Ashley Manning, on the other hand, was the 3rd highest ranking cheerio, and had the potential for being a nice girl; she was just often seemingly either forced or tricked into being much less so by influence from Silena and Charlotte.

Upon briefly thinking about Charlotte, Daniel growled, rolled his eyes, and shook his head side to side. "She may be leaving me alone so far today, but knowing her, she most definitely hasn't given up on her efforts to sway me over, inane and doomed to failure as they are." He growled. "Lord knows how long I've been turning her down and refusing her again, and again, and again." He sighed, and lifted his eyes up to Heaven. "God, what's it gonna take?"

"Hey there dude."

Daniel mentally groaned, and turned his head. Zach was now standing right by him on the opposite side of the fence. "Good to see you to Zach," he managed to say politely.

Zach chuckled, his dark face agleam with happiness. "Come now man, is that the proper way to greet your best pal?"

Daniel sighed, and turned his head away. "Sorry," he responded.

"Hey it's fine," said Zach. "Let me guess, the other football guys getting on your nerves again?"

Daniel sighed. "Well that's one thing on my mind now that you mention it."

"I hear you pal." Zach nodded his head in agreement. "Not every sports team is as well acquainted and 'good friends all around' material as me and the rest of the basketball team." He looked back at Daniel. "Heck, all the other guys on the basketball team were actually more than willing to throw a party to celebrate my making it into the glee club. They're just _that_ supportive."

Daniel gave a bitter chuckle. "Wow," he managed to say. "I so wish that all the other guys on the football team could be that supportive." His eyes narrowed, and he directed a glare in the direction of Miles Surette and his fellow linebacker black best friend, John Lipoff. "Trust me, they may not have really gotten into full swing on teasing me, or started openly erroneously calling me gay yet. But trust me, give them till the end of the week at the very least, maybe even the end of the month at the very most if I'm lucky, and they'll have it started in full. And I don't even want to think about how the other sports teams are gonna behave in regards to my newfound status as a gleek."

"Come on man, they can't possibly get that bad."

Daniel sighed, and directed a meaningful look at his friend. "Zach," he began. "Just because you were chumming around with the leaders of the hockey and baseball teams not too long ago doesn't mean that you're automatically the 100% best judge of their character." He unconsciously turned his head in the direction he'd seen the two team captains in question, and raised his eyebrow in confusion upon noticing that they were now nowhere to be found. He looked back at Zach. "Speaking of which, where are they?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Zach chuckled. "Donovan, Becket, and I were planning to go see if we could check out the girls at their practice session." He nodded his head. "You're free to join us if you want."

Daniel took a deep breath, rolled his eyes to Heaven, hung his head, and then exhaled heavily. "Zach," he managed to say in a noticeably tense voice. "I never once said yes to your suggestions to watch the cheerios alongside you and any of the other jocks during sophomore and freshman year. What reason do you have to believe that I'll start saying yes to that suggestion now?"

"Nothing really," Zach admitted. "Just the usual ritual at this point you know?"

Daniel sighed. "Sorry buddy, but I'm gonna pass on this one."

"You pass on all of them."

"And this time shall be no exception," Daniel responded, a smug grin of amusement now on his face.

Zach sighed, and shook his head side to side; albeit, with a slightly amused look on his face. "Whatever man," said Zach. He turned around and started walking off back in the direction of the area he had been chumming around with Donovan and Becket at. "Nonetheless," he said as he left the area, "I'll see you at glee club later."

"Sounds good," said Daniel. "See you there."

"Will do," Zach responded.

Once Zach had departed entirely, Daniel turned his head to face the area in front of him once more, sighing in content. "Here's to hoping that the upcoming after school session of glee club will be just as pleasant and enjoyable as the recess one." He nodded his head. "I'm especially hoping that our time in this club will be enjoyable for all of us. Well maybe not for Charlotte, but definitely for me and the others, especially Diana." His smile widened. Even now, he couldn't help but smile as he thought of his good friend.

"If I've truly fallen in love," he thought to himself, "then I certainly picked the right girl to fall for." He nodded his head, gray eyes warm with a happy gleam. "God I wonder if she feels at all the same way around me as I now do around her these days." He chuckled, and shook his head side to side. Then his smile widened, and he looked up towards the sky at nothing in particular. "Heck," he thought to himself. "I wonder if this is how Finn Hudson felt all these years about Rachel Berry." He chuckled, and shook his head side to side once more.

Then he directed his head down towards his feet. Now that he thought about it, he was actually thinking of a song that fit his current situation perfectly, and feeling very tempted to sing it right that very moment. He chuckled. "Man, it's not even time for the after-school session of glee club yet, and I'm already thinking of bursting into song." He shook his head side to side. "Then again," he thought to himself. "Considering this is glee club we're talking about, this is probably a good sign."

He nodded his head, eyes closed, and smile on his face. He could already hear the appropriate music in his head. And then, when the mental music in his head reached the right moment, he proceeded to sing the song that had sprung to his mind in a voice just loud enough for him to hear, yet miraculously not be heard at all by anyone else in the area. The resulting performance went something like this:

 _I can't fight this feeling any longer  
And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow  
What started out as friendship has grown stronger  
I only wish I had the strength to let it show  
(Scene Break: Daniel is now in the bleachers leaning up against the side railing)  
And even as I wander  
I'm keeping you in sight  
You're a candle in the window  
On a cold, dark winter's night  
(Scene Break: Boys' Locker Room, with Daniel now singing in the shower while using his soap bar as a microphone)_

 _And I'm getting closer  
Than I ever thought I might  
And I can't fight this feeling anymore  
I've forgotten what I've started fighting for  
It's time to bring this ship into the shore  
And throw away the oars  
Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore  
(Scene Break: Daniel walking happily through a conveniently empty McKinley High hallway)  
My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you  
I've been runnin' round in circles in my mind  
(Scene Break: Still in hallway, but now he's discreetly watching from the side as Diana and Susan have a conversation near some lockers in the same hallway)_

 _And it always seems that I'm following you girl  
Cause you take me to the places that alone I'd never find  
(Scene Break: Back on the bleachers)  
And even as I wander  
I'm keeping you in sight  
You're a candle in the window  
On a cold, dark winter's night  
(Scene Break: Dramatically posing in center of hallway)_

 _And I'm getting closer  
Than I ever thought I might  
(Leans back and then starts walking forward once more)  
And I can't fight this feeling anymore_

 _(Scene Break: Back on bleachers)  
I've forgotten what I've started fighting for_

 _(Scene Break: Locker Room Shower)  
It's time to bring this ship into the shore  
And throw away the oars forever  
(Scene Break: Bleachers)  
Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore_

 _(Scene Break: Shower)  
I've forgotten what I've started fighting for  
Even if I have to crawl upon your floor  
Come crashing through your door  
Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore  
(Scene Break: Hallway)  
Ooh-ohh, ooh-ohh_

 _(Scene Break: Shower; for the remainder of the instrumental finish, Daniel proceeds to rear up, and then lean back down to make a dramatic finishing pose in the shower)_

 _(Scene Break: Back at original position near the fence surrounding football field)_

Daniel sighed in content, feeling quite proud of himself for his performance. He looked around the area, smile still on his face. He had to admit, he certainly had done a pretty good job at his singing not too long ago, and even better, no one else seemed to have noticed or cared. And therefore, no one was now looking at him oddly or teasing him. He chuckled. "Yep," he thought to himself. "Today is definitely still a great day so far." He sighed in content, and then checked his watch. His smile widened. In another 15 minutes, Coach Bieste would be calling him and the other football players to the center of the field to go over the plays. And about a half hour after being called to said discussion, he'd be free to go just in time to join back up with Diana, Zach, and his potential brand new friends in the choir room for the after-school glee club session for the day. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "No doubt about it," he thought to himself. "I've certainly out to be correct in what I was thinking this morning. Today truly is turning out to be a great day."

. . . . .

Charlotte Thornton had her eyes narrowed as she watched an area nearby the fence surrounding the outdoor field reserved for the cheerios' practice sessions. At the current moment, she and the other members of the squad were in the midst of a 'half time' break that Coach Sylvester had been kind enough to grant them. And while all the other cheerios were either talking in groups or walking around the area doing nothing in particular, she was seated upon one of the bleachers at the bottom row, watching the aforementioned area by the fence.

The reason she was paying such close attention to this area had far more to do with the three boys standing on the other side of the fence then with the actual fence itself. She recognized all three of them; an easy thing for her to do since they were all jocks, and rather high ranking ones to at that. The two Caucasians amongst the group, one of them a blonde and the other dark-haired, were the boyfriends of her 2nd and 3rd in command, Silena Townsend and Ashley Manning. Coincidentally, these same two boys were also the captains of the hockey and baseball teams, respectively. The 3rd boy, an African American, was the captain of the basketball team, and Daniel Taymor's best friend, Zach Skinner.

The fact that these three boys were present, and almost certainly there to watch her and the other cheerios, was not making her angry at all. Rather, it was the conspicuous absence of one other high ranking jock in McKinley High that was currently putting her in a bit of a bad mood. "What is it going to take for Daniel to come and watch me at practice?" she thought to herself angrily.

She shook her head in disbelief. "I mean come on," she thought to herself. "I specifically made sure that Zach would always ask him to come by to watch during a time in which he's having a break during his football practices and would have plenty of time to return to the football field in time to avoid being late when the break is over." She clenched her fists. "Why is he _still_ refusing to take Zach up on his offer and come to watch his future wife; ahem, me; in her element?"

She turned her head away from the fence, glowering at nothing in particular in the direction opposite. "I've been going too easy on him today," she thought to herself. Her teeth gritted into a silent snarl. "Perhaps maybe if I were more actively getting myself involved in trying to get him to watch me at the cheerios' practice sessions, maybe he'd be here watching right now."

Charlotte thought of another detail, and her eyes narrowed further. "At least, that is, assuming he doesn't continue just ramrodding my advances down or have other people in that lame ass glee club backing him up." Right as she had that last thought, she clenched her fists once more as she incidentally thought of another major detail to the equation that she found especially irksome. "And that's being optimistic considering how there's still that undeserving meowling quim in my way that needs to remain included into the equation." She tensed up, just barely managing to avoid flat out growling in her anger, and managed to tensely exhale. "By God, why can't she get it through to her tiny little brain that he's mine and that she should stay the Hell out of my freaking way?" She opened her eyes, tense glare still present. "And for that matter, why must Daniel be so damn insistent on keeping his sights set on that unworthy street whore when the girl he truly belongs with has been right here at the top of the school food chain alongside him this entire time?"

She turned her head to once more face the area where the three jocks were gathered. "To think that I've actually ended up having to go so far as to join that disgusting loser haven in order to still have even the most remote chances of clearing Daniel's eyes so that he can finally see the proper story he's destined to follow that he even now still continues to ignore in plain sight."

Charlotte took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Remain calm," she thought to herself. "So what if it's even now proving harder to save Daniel from throwing his life away then you thought it would? That's just a sign that it will be all the more worthwhile when your eventual success finally comes to fruition!" As she had this thought, a wide smile of confidence came onto her face. "That's right," she thought to herself. "It wouldn't be nearly as fun, nor as satisfying or rewarding, if it were easy; now would it?"

She chuckled, leaned backwards, and stared happily up towards the sky. "To think that I spent so much time in elementary school and middle school just ignoring him and dismissing him as a nerd." She chuckled again. "Well not anymore. Thank God I finally realized what I was willfully causing myself to miss out on in time for high school." She shook her head side to side in contentment. "I may have spent so many early years of my life letting my happy fairy tale destiny slip through my fingers, but I sure as Hell am not going to allow myself to leave high school without having once gotten close to finally clasping hold of it in its efforts to escape." She nodded her head, and then opened her blue eyes once more, an icy determination flaring in them. "And by God," she thought to herself. "I'm sure as Hell not going to let that same destiny that I spent so much time ignoring back in elementary and middle school forever be cast aside by Daniel. No way. Not even in the slightest."

She chuckled to herself. Part of her actually felt slightly amused at the jarring difference between how she felt about Daniel back in all her years before the summer after graduating middle school and the way she currently felt about him. She'd only been feeling this way for Daniel and actively pursuing him for two full school years, and a single day of a 3rd. And yet, she even now felt as if she'd felt this way for him all her life. "And on my heart and soul," she thought to herself. "If it takes my entire life to finally get Daniel to see the light and understand how we're destined to be together, then so be it." She chuckled to herself once more. "Heck, I feel so happy right now, I almost feel like singing." She turned her head to directly face the area in front of her, smug smile now on her face as she started to hear just the right music for an oddly appropriate song playing in her mind. "I guess being a member of the glee club isn't entirely without its perks," she thought smugly to herself.

In that instant, right as the proper moment came in the instrumental tune playing in her mind for her to start singing, she placed her hands palm-side down on the bleacher she was sitting on, raised herself back onto her feet, and started confidently walking straight back towards where her fellow cheerios were seemingly already starting to gather around to resume their practice session; and she did all that, while happily singing the lyrics to the tune she now heard playing in her mind. And the performance that unfolded went something like this:

 _I've been everywhere, man  
Looking for someone  
Someone who can please me  
Love me all night long  
I've been everywhere, man  
Looking for you babe  
Looking for you babe  
Searching for you babe  
(Scene Break: Charlotte is in the midst of her fellow cheerios, and all of them are in the midst of actively practicing and performing routines)  
Where have you been?  
Cause I never see you out (Ashley and Silena: I never see you out)  
Are you hiding from me, yeah?  
Somewhere in the crowd (Ashley and Silena: where in the crowd)  
(All cheerios: Yeah 10x) (Charlotte: Oh whoa)_

 _(All cheerios: Yeah 10x)_

 _(Charlotte:)  
Where have you been all my life, all my life?  
Where have you been all my life?_

 _(Charlotte, Silena, and Ashley:)  
Where have you been all my life?  
Where have you been all my life?_

 _(All cheerios:)  
Where have you been all my life?  
(Beat break)_

 _(Charlotte:)  
I've been everywhere, man  
Looking for someone  
Someone who can please me  
Love me all night long  
I've been everywhere, man  
Looking for you babe  
Looking for you babe  
Searching for you babe  
Where have you been?  
Cause I never see you out (Silena and Ashley: I never see you out)  
Are you hiding from me, yeah  
Somewhere in the crowd? (Silena and Ashley: where in the crowd)  
(All cheerios: Yeah 10x) (Charlotte: Oh whoa)_

 _(All cheerios: Yeah 10x)_

 _(Charlotte:)  
Where have you been all my life, all my life?  
Where have you been all my life?  
(Charlotte, Silena, and Ashley:)_

 _Where have you been all my life?  
Where have you been all my life?_

 _(All cheerios:)  
Where have you been all my life?  
(Beat Break)  
Where have you been all my life?  
(Beat Break)_

 _(Charlotte:)  
You can have me all you want  
Any way, any day  
Just show me where you are tonight_

 _(All cheerios: Yeah 10x) (Charlotte: Yeah)_

 _(All cheerios: Yeah 10x)_

 _(Charlotte: Oh)  
(Scene Break: All cheerios, top 3 included, are standing still and calmly with hands on their hips on the ground in the center of the practice field)  
(Charlotte:)_

 _I've been everywhere, man  
Looking for someone  
Someone who can please me  
Love me all night long  
I've been everywhere, man  
Looking for you babe  
Looking for you babe  
Searching for you babe_

 _(Scene Break: Charlotte sitting where she was on the bleachers, eyes closed, the entire performance apparently just one long imagine spot.)_

"THORNTON!"

Charlotte's eyes snapped open, and she almost fell backwards. She was that stunned by the abrupt shout. When she finally got her bearings back, she turned her head to face the exact direction the shout had come from . . . and found herself fighting to keep herself from turning literally red as a tomato upon sight of every single one of the cheerios _but_ herself standing at attention in the center of the field with amused looks directed her way while none other than Coach Sue Sylvester herself stood directly nearby Silena and Ashley with a _very_ annoyed glare directed towards the head cheerio.

The coach shook her head side to side, her blue eyes icy with annoyance and her short blonde hair ruffling slightly with the motion of her head. "Care to explain yourself?"

Charlotte let a sheepish smile come on her face. "Sorry." She got up from her seat and calmly walked over to join her fellow cheerios. Upon taking her usual position amidst them, she turned to face her coach. "Honestly coach," she admitted. "Don't know what got into me; it seems I got distracted for once. For that, I apologize."

Coach Sylvester narrowed her eyes, seemingly not sure what to think about Charlotte's response. Then she nodded her head. "I suppose I can't be too hard on you for getting distracted like this for once. Sometimes stuff like this just happens to the best of us I guess." Then she directed another serious look at the head cheerleader. "But I'd greatly recommend you try hard to refrain from any repeats during future practices. Understood?"

Charlotte nodded. "Yes coach."

Coach Sylvester nodded. Then she allowed her gaze to accommodate for all the girls in the squad. "And this applies to the rest of you to! And don't get too comfortable with how I just now let Charlotte off the hook. This was only her first offense period, let alone in this sort of regard! Don't expect me to be anywhere near as lenient on you if I catch any of you in similar circumstances! And trust me, the more times I catch you not paying attention, the further in the year I do it, and the shakier your standing with me is at the time it happens, the harder it's gonna be girls! You hear me!?"

All the other girls were very quick to respond in the affirmative. Immediately after this, one tall Korean American girl standing amidst the back of the group directed her head slightly in the direction of two younger girls standing to her right and whispered, "Harsh as ever I see."

"You think this is harsh?" Sue Sylvester asked in a loud tone, clearly having somehow heard the Korean American girl's remark. "Think about what all the concentration campers had to go through! That's harsh!" She turned around, walked a couple feet ahead of the squad, and then turned around to face them, firm look still on her face. "Compared to that, even the worst I could do is getting off lightly!" She clapped her hands together once. "Alright! Enough loafing around! Time to get back to work! You hear me?! Who's ready!?" And just like that, break time was over. Practice was back in session.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Hope you all enjoyed reading it, and that you leave plenty of feedback! Remember, a minimum of 3 reviews must be left for this new chapter before you can have the pleasure of reading the next chapter (and considering how, as of this writing, it shouldn't take too much longer for me to finish writing chapter 4, let's hope that review quota gets fulfilled real quickly). On another note, any comments on how, as of this chapter, songs are now officially included? It's always a pleasure for me to include and write in the songs ^_^. I'll bet you certainly enjoyed how I had Daniel sing Can't Fight This Feeling (not to mention had some of the parts for his performance take place in the shower). And on another note, I'll bet it's nice to still be at the point in the GWAFU where Coach Sylvester's still around. That being said, I hope I did a good job with her from what I've gotten of the story so far. Remember, since this occurs before Sectionals of the GWAF main story, this is during the time when good ol' Sue Sylvester is in the midst of one of her anti-glee club phases. So yeah, best make note of that for future chapters, and I hope to write her correctly in that mindset during said future chapters. Well anyway, all that being said, again here's to hoping you all read and enjoyed, and that you leave plenty of reviews. ^_^**

 **Songs Used**

 **Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon - Performed by Daniel Taymor**

 **Where Have You Been - Rihanna - Performed by Charlotte Thornton**

 **Coming Up Next: The very first after-school session of the current school year in the GWAFU takes place, and the first ones up to fulfill their part in the week's assignment are our favorite trio full of drama; Cody, Bailey, and Raj. And not too long after those three performances are out of the way, another important matter is taken care of as well in regard to club leadership. Sound fun? I certainly hope so! ^_^**


	4. A Productive First Lesson

**Hey ya'll! Sorry for the long wait. Nonetheless, fret no more, for today, I've decided to go easy on you and post the newest chapter of 'A New Generation is Born' for you all to enjoy ^_^. In this chapter, the very first after-school session of the glee club for the current school year in the GWAFU universe occurs, with the first three students to fulfill the week's assignment being none other than Cody, Bailey, and Raj. And no sooner are these three performances out of the way, when the New Directions proceed to take care of one other especially important task; nomination of the new male and female lead for the current generation of New Directioneers. Sound fun? I certainly hope so! And that being said, here's to hoping you all read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, I own neither Glee, nor any songs used in this chapter (or story for that matter). NOW, onward we go!**

 **Chapter 4:**

 **A Productive First Lesson**

Bailey Kellogg was in a good mood as she made her way through one of the hallways of McKinley High. Within the next 10 to 15 minutes, the after-school session of glee club would begin. And at the rate she was currently going, she'd be at the choir room right on time.

She had to admit, she was quite looking forward to fulfilling her part in the assignment Mr. Schuester had given for the glee club this week. In fact, there was quite a large number of songs she could think of off the top of her head that she was quite certain would have perfectly fit with her idol, Tina Cohen Chang's, personal tastes. "But oh," she thought to herself. "Just which one should I sing?"

She came to a stop, thinking carefully to herself. Then she turned around to face the area to her right. She just happened to be standing right by her locker. "I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to go ahead and sort out the stuff I'll need for when I get home from school." She walked up to her locker, entered in the combination, and opened the door to start sorting out her supplies.

Upon finishing this task, she closed her locker, snapped the lock closed, zipped up her backpack, and slung it back over her shoulder before she resumed her walk through the hall to reach the choir room. As she did so, she sighed as she found herself once again fully focused on her little dilemma of trying to decide on what to sing.

Then she felt her cellphone vibrate in her pants pocket. She paused, involuntarily tensing up. She knew that it would be polite to check her phone to see who was calling. But at the same time, she had a very bad feeling as to who was likely responsible for attempting to call her at that specific moment in time, and she was not entirely pleased with the idea. With gritted teeth, she decided to at least check to be absolutely certain as to who was calling her, and she drew out her phone.

Upon sight of the caller ID on her phone's screen, she grimaced, mentally groaning, at the confirmation of who was responsible for the call. Just as she'd been expecting, the caller was Raj. She rolled her eyes to Heaven, trying her absolute best to avoid losing her cool.

Ever since their breakup, Raj had stalwartly attempted to call her on her cellphone thrice a day for virtually every single day following the breakup. And as of the current moment, he was now making his 2nd attempt for the current day. At first, she'd paid very little attention to the matter, hoping that her ex would eventually get the hint that his efforts at calling her to discuss the drama between them all weren't helping and that he'd stop. But instead, as she could clearly see, hear, and feel from her still vibrating phone, Raj had not gotten the message. And frankly, considering how this had now been going on for about 2-3 months straight, she was starting to get quite sick of it.

"What is it with him?" she thought to herself. "Does the fact that I've never once responded mean anything to him? What does he think I'm trying to do? Play hard to get?" She took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily. "I've already made it perfectly clear that I need time to think, and Cody's gotten that message perfectly. Why the devil can't Raj?"

Bailey looked at her still vibrating phone once more, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I wonder if Tina Cohen Chang ever experienced this kind of travesty regarding Artie Abrams and Mike Chang," she thought to herself. Then she raised her eyebrow, her still annoyed face now also showing signs of her possibly thinking to herself. And indeed, she was now having a thought. In fact, she was now starting to get an idea of just the right song for her to sing to fulfill the assignment for the glee club this week. And even better, she was now starting to hear the beginning of the appropriate instrumental tune play in her mind, and she unconsciously lifted her still vibrating phone directly to her face level.

 _(Bailey)_

 _Hello, hello, baby, you called?  
I can't hear a thing  
I have got no service  
In the club, you say? say?  
Wha-wha-what did you say, huh?  
You're breakin' up on me  
Sorry I cannot hear you  
I'm kinda busy_

 _(Slips her phone in her pocket and starts walking forward through the hall once more; simultaneously, two cheerios, one of them a blonde with a hair bun and the other a Chinese American with moon-shaped earrings step into view from the left and right and walk along not too far behind her)  
(Cheerios: Kinda busy)_

 _(Bailey:)_

 _Kinda busy_

 _(Cheerios: Kinda busy)_

 _(Bailey:)  
Kinda busy_

 _(Cheerios: Kinda busy)  
Sorry I cannot hear you I'm kinda busy  
(Scene Break: Bailey is now walking through a completely different hallway, still singing, and the two cheerios still walking along behind her.)  
Just a second  
It's my favorite song they're gonna play  
And I cannot text you with a drink in my hand, eh?  
You should've made some plans with me  
You knew that I was free  
And now you won't stop calling me  
I'm kinda busy  
(Scene Break: Choir Room)  
Stop callin'  
Stop callin'  
I don't wanna think anymore  
I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor  
Stop callin'  
Stop callin'  
I don't wanna talk anymore  
I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor  
(Scene Break: Hallway)  
(Cheerios: Eh 11x)_

 _(Bailey:)_

 _Stop telephonin' me_

 _(Cheerios: Eh 11x)_

 _(Cheerios:)  
Stop telephonin' me  
(Bailey:)_

 _I'm busy  
(Cheerios: Eh 11x)_

 _(Cheerios: I'm busy)  
Stop telephonin' me  
(Cheerios: Stop telephonin' me)_

 _(Scene Break: Choir Room)_

 _(Bailey:)  
You can call all you want but there's no one home  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
Out in the club  
And I'm sipping that bubb  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
You call all you want, but there's no one home  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
Out in the club  
And I'm sipping that bubb  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
(Scene Break: Hallway)_

 _(Bailey and the Cheerios:)  
Boy, the way you blowing up my phone  
Won't make me leave no faster  
Put my coat on faster  
Leave my girls no faster  
I should've left my phone at home  
'Cause this is a disaster  
Calling like a collector  
Sorry, I cannot answer  
(Scene Break: Choir Room)_

 _(Bailey:)  
Not that I don't like you  
I'm just at a party  
And I am sick and tired of my phone r-ringing  
Sometimes I feel like I live in grand central station  
Tonight I'm not takin' no calls  
'Cause I'll be dancin'  
(Scene Break: Hallway)_

 _(Bailey and Cheerios:)_

 _I'll be dancin'  
I'll be dancin'  
Tonight I'm not takin' no calls  
'Cause I'll be dancin'  
(Scene Break: Choir Room)_

 _(Bailey:)_

 _Stop callin'  
Stop callin'  
I don't wanna think anymore  
I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor  
Stop callin'  
Stop callin'  
I don't wanna talk anymore  
I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor_

 _(Scene Break: Hallway)_

 _(Bailey and the Cheerios:)_

 _Stop callin'  
Stop callin'  
I don't wanna think anymore  
I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor  
Stop callin'  
Stop callin'  
I don't wanna talk anymore  
I left my head and my heart on the dancefloor  
(Cheerios:)_

 _(Eh 11x)_

 _Stop telephonin' me_

 _(Bailey:)  
Stop telephonin' me  
(Cheerios: Eh 11x)_

 _I'm busy  
(Bailey:)_

 _I'm busy  
(Cheerios:)_

 _(Eh 11x)_

 _Stop telephonin' me  
(Bailey:)_

 _Stop telephonin' me_

 _(Cheerios:)_

 _(Eh 11x)_

 _I'm busy_

 _(Scene Break: Choir Room)_

 _(Bailey:)  
You can call all you want but there's no one home  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
Out in the club  
And I'm sipping that bubb  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
You call all you want, but there's no one home  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
Out in the club  
And I'm sipping that bubb  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
(Scene Break: Hallway)_

 _(Cheerios and Bailey:)  
My telephone  
Ma ma ma telephone  
'Cause I'm out in the club  
And I'm sippin that bubb  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone_

 _My telephone  
Ma ma ma telephone  
'Cause I'm out in the club  
And I'm sippin that bubb  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone My telephone  
Ma ma ma telephone  
'Cause I'm out in the club  
And I'm sippin that bubb  
And you're not gonna reach my telephone  
(Scene Break: Separate Hallway, and Raj is seen with his cellphone up to his ear)_

 _(Voice mail in Bailey's voice)  
(We're sorry, we're sorry  
The number you have reached  
Is not in service at this time  
Please check the number, or try your call again)_

 _(Scene Break: Choir Room)_

No sooner had she finished her performance, when Bailey lifted her head to directly face her fellow gleeks and Mr. Schuester, confident smile on her face. She had actually been the first one to volunteer to come up to sing her song for the assignment for today's after-school session. And from the awestruck looks on the faces of her 12 peers and the stunned speechless look on Mr. Schuester's face, she had a good feeling that they were impressed.

Sure enough, much to Bailey's happiness, the silence was finally broken when the other 12 students of the glee club started clapping and cheering in delight. Even Mr. Schuester had an impressed smile on his face as he clapped alongside his 12 seated students.

"I must admit," said the teacher as he slowly started to wind down in his clapping. "I'm impressed." He stopped clapping, the other 12 students in the glee club ending their own applause not too long after him. The teacher shook his head side to side in amazement. "Don't ask me how, but I honestly was not expecting you to be the first one to fulfill the assignment this week. But nonetheless," he nodded his head and gave her a thumbs up. "Fantastic work Bailey. I'm sure Tina Cohen Chang would be proud of you. And I know for a fact that I myself am already proud of you."

"Damn straight," said Cody.

"Heck yeah!" yelled Raj.

Cody and Raj promptly glared at each other, clearly not amused at each other's comments complimenting the same girl. Bailey mentally sighed, her shoulders slumping, and a 'really?' look on her face. "Must they do this now?" she thought to herself.

The other students likewise looked annoyed. At least, that is, except for Zach, who chuckled. "Such is the sweet drama of the young and restless."

In a flash, Cody and Raj directed their glares towards Zach. In fact, their glares actually seemed even angrier now that they were being directed towards Zach.

"Watch it pal," Cody snarled. "You're already on thin ice right now."

"Yeah," Raj practically growled. "You'd best watch your step. Lord knows how precarious your standing with us is right now."

The other seated students directed confused looks towards Zach, who only grinned cheekily. Bailey raised her eyebrow, and then directed her gaze towards her warring best friend and ex-boyfriend. In that moment, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she noticed two seemingly insignificant details that had previously escaped her when she'd first entered the choir room that afternoon. And admittedly, some would have almost certainly called it miraculous that she was able to notice the quite subtle differences in their current appearances compared to earlier that morning.

For starters, Cody's glasses looked different. The pair he'd been wearing earlier that morning had been very obviously circular in shape. This pair, however, was a very subtle ovular rectangle shape. She recognized this pair as one of his spares. As for Raj, she noticed that he was wearing the light gray sweat pants and slip on track shoes he reserved for his gym classes instead of the jeans and sneakers he'd been wearing earlier that morning. She directed a slight glance towards Zach out of the corner of her eyes. Judging by the glares that Cody and Raj were currently directing at him and what they'd said to him, he was in some way responsible for Cody's change of glasses and Raj's wearing his sweat pants and track shoes instead of his jeans and sneakers. "What did he do?" she thought to herself.

Mr. Schuester decided to intervene before any further potential could arise for things to get ugly. "Alright now," he said. "Let's keep things civil here. This is only our first full day of glee club together. Let's not get knee deep in drama this early on."

After a moment of consideration, all the seated gleeks nodded their heads and positioned themselves in ways that indicated that they were calming themselves down and reverting their focus back to the glee club session. Mr. Schuester heaved a sigh of relief, and then looked back at Bailey. "Once again, thank you very much," said the teacher, smile back on his face. He gestured towards the other 12 students. "You may return to your seat."

Bailey smiled. "You're welcome Mr. Schuester. I'm happy to have entertained you today." She returned to her seat, which this time just happened to be to Cody's left.

"Alright then," said Mr. Schuester. He clapped his hands once. "Anyone else wish to perform today?"

Raj rose from his seat directly to Cody's right. "Allow me."

Mr. Schuester shrugged in acceptance as Raj walked on over to where Bailey had been standing for her performance. "Go on ahead then," said the teacher.

Raj came to a stop at the de facto performance spot, and then turned to face the other gleeks, smile on his face. "Bailey sure gave us a fun performance just now huh?"

The other gleeks were quick to agree, though Cody and Bailey had noticeably tight gritted teeth as they nodded their heads up and down.

Raj chuckled. "Well it's a darn good thing you all agree, because she is indeed a real star in the making." He raised his finger as if to forestall any potential response. "However," he began. "Just because she's the one who started and got you treated to such a fun performance so early on doesn't mean at all that there ain't gonna be anyone else amongst us capable of treating you to an equally unique experience of their own. And I have just the song to perform for you all."

The Indian American nodded himself, apparently quite confident indeed in his choice of song. "Why this song in particular? The way I see it, this particular song is something I believe would somewhat prove a perfect fit for Kurt Hummel in regard to several different situations in his life. Just to name a few examples, I believe it would fit like a hand to a glove in consideration of when he came out, after his first meeting with Blaine Anderson, his graduation, and a few others I could list if it didn't mean wasting the entire rest of the lesson."

The other gleeks found this description quite humorous. Even Cody and Bailey couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle upon hearing the last few words from Raj.

"Well enough beating around the bush then," said Raj. "Prepare to be amazed."

He turned his head towards the piano, where the ever-dutiful New Directions pianist, Brad, was seated and at the ready for when the inevitable call came. Raj silently mouthed to Brad to ask him if he was ready. The pianist nodded his head. Raj gave the pianist a thumbs up, and then turned to face his audience once more before snapping his fingers. Brad started playing the appropriate tune for Raj's chosen song, and when the time was right, the resulting performance that unfolded went something like this:

 _I'm a new soul  
I came to this strange world  
Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take  
But since I came here  
Felt the joy and the fear  
Finding myself making every possible mistake  
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la... (2x)  
(Band joins in)_

 _I'm a young soul in this very strange world  
Hoping I could learn a bit bout what is true and fake  
But why all this hate?  
Try to communicate  
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make  
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la... (2x)_

 _(Instrumental break accompanied with clapping)  
This is a happy end  
Cause' you don't understand  
Everything you have done  
Why's everything so wrong  
This is a happy end  
Come and give me your hand  
I'll take you far away  
I'm a new soul  
I came to this strange world  
Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take  
But since I came here  
Felt the joy and the fear  
Finding myself making every possible mistake  
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la... (2x)  
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la... (2x)_

 _(Instrumental break/finish)_

No sooner was the performance was over and Raj had lifted his head from its dramatic bowed position when the audience cheered and clapped enthusiastically. Even Bailey and Cody had smiles on their faces despite clapping more slowly than their 10 peers. After all, even they weren't foolish enough to deny that Raj had put on a quite pleasant performance indeed.

Mr. Schuester, likewise was pleased with Raj's performance. "Well done Raj. Excellent performance."

"Thank you, Mr. Schue."

Raj made his way back to his seat. "Carry on."

"Anyone else?" Mr. Schuester asked soon after Raj had sat back down.

Naturally, Cody rose from his seat all of one second after Mr. Schuester had asked that question and made his way over to his position for performing. Bailey and Raj nodded their heads up and down upon sight of this. "Definitely saw that coming," Raj thought to himself.

"No surprise here," Bailey thought to herself.

Cody took his position at where Raj and Bailey had stood for their performances, facing the audience before him. "Good afternoon everyone," Cody began. He gestured towards Bailey and Raj. "I will not deny the obvious. My two companions indeed had very fun and entertaining performances to offer today."

The 10 students who had thus far elected not to perform their song for the assignment that day nodded in agreement. They saw no need to argue with what Cody had said.

"However," said Cody, a grin on his face that was virtually a mirror image of the proud grin that had been on Bailey's face directly following her own performance. "Their performances are most certainly not going to be the last ones you'll be treated to today. And by God, I'm sure as Hell ain't gonna let our 2nd full session of glee club end without one of us allowing it to end on a real high note." He nodded his head. "And you know what they say. Third time's always the charm."

Cody turned his head towards Brad, who had already managed to switch out the sheet music for Raj's song with the sheet music for Cody's. "And besides, what better song for me to perform then one that I know, for a fact, that Mike Chang would have almost certainly been willing to perform for at the very least the myriad opportunities he would have had to dance his heart out." Immediately after he said the last bit, he winked at Brad, who nodded his head and got his hands into position. Cody had just enough time to turn his head to face the audience once more and take a deep breath before Brad and the band members started playing the appropriate tune, Cody himself simultaneously beginning the vocal part of the performance. The resulting performance that ensued, with Cody singing and dancing, the instrumental accompaniment, and the band members whistling and similarly vocalizing at the appropriate moments, went like this:

 _Today I don't feel like doing anything  
I just wanna lay in my bed  
Don't feel like picking up my phone  
So leave a message at the tone  
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything.  
Uh!  
I'm gonna kick my feet up  
Then stare at the fan  
Turn the TV on, throw my hand in my pants  
Nobody's gonna tell me I can't  
No  
I'll be lounging on the couch,  
Just chillin' in my snuggie  
Click to MTV, so they can teach me how to dougie  
'Cause in my castle I'm the freaking man  
Oh, yes I said it  
I said it  
I said it 'cause I can  
Today I don't feel like doing anything  
I just wanna lay in my bed  
Don't feel like picking up my phone  
So leave a message at the tone  
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything  
Nothing at all!  
Ooh, hoo, ooh, hoo, ooh, ooh-ooh  
Nothing at all  
Ooh, hoo, ooh, hoo, ooh, ooh-ooh  
Tomorrow I'll wake up, do some P90X  
Meet a really nice girl, have some really nice sex  
And she's gonna scream out: 'This is Great' (Bailey: Oh my God, this is great!)  
Yeah  
I might mess around, and get my college degree  
I bet my old man will be so proud of me  
But sorry pops, you'll just have to wait  
Haha  
Oh, yes I said it  
I said it  
I said it 'cause I can  
Today I don't feel like doing anything  
I just wanna lay in my bed  
Don't feel like picking up my phone  
So leave a message at the tone  
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything  
No, I ain't gonna comb my hair  
'Cause I ain't going anywhere  
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no  
I'll just strut in my birthday suit  
And let everything hang loose  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah  
Ooh  
Today I don't feel like doing anything  
I just wanna lay in my bed  
Don't feel like picking up my phone  
So leave a message at the tone  
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything  
Nothing at all  
Ooh, hoo, ooh, hoo, ooh, ooh-ooh  
Nothing at all  
Ooh, hoo, ooh, hoo, ooh, ooh-ooh  
Nothing at all_

Unlike with Raj and Bailey's performances, all of one second passed Cody finishing his performance before the entire room erupted into cheering and clapping. Clearly, they had enjoyed the performance that much. Hobbes was even going so far as to bark joyously again and again in perfect synch with his master's clapping. Even Mr. Schuester couldn't help but grin like an idiot as he clapped noticeably just as fast as his students rather than in the politely slow fashion he'd used for Bailey and Raj.

"Wow," Mr. Schuester managed to say while still clapping. "Just. . ." He stopped clapping, shook his head side to side, and spread his hands and arms out to his sides, a _very_ happy look on his face indeed. "Wow. I honestly don't know what else to say right now."

Cody chuckled. "Thank you, Mr. Schue." He turned his head to face his 12 peers. "Wasn't that fun?!"

"Yeah!" they all shouted in unison.

"That's what I like!" Cody yelled. He chuckled, shook his head side to side, and then practically skipped back to his seat.

"That should be enough performances for today everyone," said Mr. Schuester as he proceeded to get up from his seat and walk on over to the area where Cody, Raj, and Bailey had stood for their performances. "However," he continued, "we still have just enough time to take care of one equally important thing."

All 13 students gazed intently at their teacher, listening excitedly to hear what it was that Mr. Schuester now wanted to take care of.

"As important as it has always been for this club to have a firm and tightly woven group dynamic, it has always managed to have an integral source of strength in there being a male and female lead amongst its roster." Mr. Schuester leaned forward, his hands clasped together in apparent anticipation. "And as of now, it's time for us to name the lucky boy and girl amongst you who shall serve as the male and female lead for this club's newest generation of members."

Within the seconds, all the students started chattering and whispering excitedly amongst each other. Diana, meanwhile, seemed almost literally starry eyed, much to Daniel's happiness.

"Glad to see you're all excited." Mr. Schuester chuckled. "Well in that case, let's get started. First, let's decide on our female lead."

"Say no more."

Charlotte rose from her seat, standing up straight literally still on top of it, her hands on her hips and a confidant smile on her face. "Here she is."

Daniel and nine of the other students turned their heads in unison to direct an annoyed glare at the head cheerleader. Zach looked half pleased and half guilty. Diana, however, didn't even dare look in Charlotte or Daniel's direction, a half nervous and half despondent look on her face.

Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrow, carefully noting the entirety of what was now going on amongst his students. "Your candidacy has been noted," he eventually managed to say. He directed his gaze towards all the other students. "Anyone wish to second this notion?"

For what seemed like an eternity, no one moved or said a word. At one point, Zach tensed up, seemingly trying to decide just what to do. Then he shrugged, simultaneously making a stereotypical 'I don't know' gesture with his hands, and a sheepish grimace coming on his face. Upon sight of all this, Charlotte's smile faded into a frown, and she noticeably slumped over in her posture. "Seriously?" she thought to herself. Eyes narrowing into a glare, she clenched her fists, took a deep breath, exhaled tensely, and then sat back down, clearly not at all happy with what had just occurred.

"In that case," Mr. Schuester began. "Is there anyone else who wishes to suggest a female lead?"

Susan raised her hand. "Yes Susan?"

"I do have an idea as to who we should pick for female lead." She turned her head to her left. Diana was conveniently sitting right next to her. Smile on her face, Susan continued, "I say we appoint Diana as our female lead."

Diana's eyes widened, genuinely stunned to have been suggested for the position of the club's female lead. Before she even had a chance to respond, another voice directly to her left said, "I second this notion." Diana turned her head, and saw Daniel now looking right at her with a smile on his face. Diana's shocked expression morphed into a genuinely touched smile of her own. It seemed that both of her closest friends were quite pleased with the idea of her as the female lead of the New Directions.

Mr. Schuester smiled. "In that case," he began, "Diana's candidacy is officially noted."

"You can't do this!"

Everyone else in the room promptly turned their heads. As was to be expected, Charlotte was the one who was now complaining. "That's not fair! You can't just appoint her as the female lead just like that! That's favoritism!"

"Which is precisely why I'm not the one who will have the final decision in my hands." Mr. Schuester gestured to indicate all the other students. "As of now, with you and Diana officially candidates, and no one else running alongside you, the other 11 students shall now put the matter to a vote."

Upon hearing this, Charlotte seemed to deflate. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she thought to herself bitterly. She may not have known a very large number of the other students in the club very well, but she was willing to be cash money that they'd be very unlikely indeed to vote in favor of her being the club's female lead.

Mr. Schuester took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked directly at the gathered students. "Alright everyone," said the teacher. "All in favor of Charlotte as the female lead, raise their hands."

Mr. Schuester allowed a full five minutes to pass. And of course, much as Charlotte had feared, absolutely none of the 11 students that weren't amongst the nominees for New Directions female lead raised their hands. Zach, for a brief moment, seemed to tense up as if considering raising his hand, only to then slump his shoulders and hang his head, clearly having now decided against it. Charlotte's own shoulders slumped. "God help me," she thought to herself. "Are _all_ my plans going to be doomed to failure like this?"

"All in favor of Diana as the female lead, raise their hands."

The effect was instantaneous, and the contrast undeniable. It took all of one second after Mr. Schuester had finished his comment before all 11 of the other students, Zach included, raised their hands as high in the air as they could. And as if to further emphasize the matter, Hobbes even went so far as to lift up his right front paw as if to indicate that he too was in agreement with the idea of the club having Diana as its female lead. Charlotte slumped again, her plan clearly in ruins.

Mr. Schuester smiled. "It is unanimous. At this time, let's all give a hand for our new female lead, Diana Eberhart!"

All the students apart from Charlotte cheered as Diana blushed, shook her head side to side, and eventually rose from her seat. She walked up towards where Mr. Schuester was standing, turned to face her 12 peers, and then curtsied to them, much to their delight. "I must admit," she thought to herself. "It actually does feel pretty good right now being the female lead of this club." Her smile widened. "Just like Rachel Berry."

"Alright everyone," said Mr. Schuester. "Glad we've all gotten that first matter sorted out. But now, as I'm sure won't be any surprise to you all, we must now also appoint someone amongst you to be Diana's partner as the New Directions male lead."

"Look no further."

As one, Mr. Schuester, Hobbes, and the students all looked over at Daniel as he rose from his seat. "I nominate myself as a candidate for the position."

Immediately after Daniel said this, Calvin and Susan gave themselves a high five and silently reacted as if saying an exultant 'yes!' in unison, Zach nodded his head up and down with his eyes closed as if to indicate that he'd seen this development coming, and Charlotte slumped her shoulders yet again with a half despairing and half resigned look on her face. Diana, of course, couldn't have looked any happier than she now did without literally glowing as bright as the sun itself.

Mr. Schuester smiled. "Why am I not surprised?" he asked out loud. He turned his attention to the 11 seated gleeks. "Anyone else wish to suggest a candidate?"

There was no response whatsoever.

"In that case." Mr. Schuester nodded his head. "All in favor of Daniel as the male lead, raise their hands."

In a flash, all 11 of the students, Charlotte included, raised their hands. Hobbes, just like he'd done during the voting for the female lead, lifted his right front paw to indicate his own approval.

"It is unanimous. Let us all give a warm welcome to our new male lead, Daniel Taymor!"

All but Charlotte started whooping and cheering and clapping their hands rapidly as the now smiling Daniel stepped forward to join Diana at her position in front of their 11 peers in the glee club. And as the newly appointed male and female lead of the New Directions stood there hand in hand with smiles on their faces as they watched their applauding peers, they seemed to neither notice nor care that Charlotte was clapping far more slowly than the other 10 students applauding and had nowhere near as outright happy a look on her face as them.

"Alright everyone," said Mr. Schuester, "now that we have our male and female lead, there is one other matter we must now take care of; the election of our deputy leads."

All 13 of the gleeks raised their eyebrows in confusion.

Mr. Schuester smiled. "Had a feeling you wouldn't know what I'm talking about. I'm not surprised. Neither did any of the members before you over the last few years."

"What _are_ you talking about?" Darren asked.

"Glad you asked Darren," said Mr. Schuester. "You see, many years ago, sometime after the graduation of the generation that included Marley Rose and Ryder Lynn, I decided to attempt to allow this club's inner workings to function even more smoothly by allowing the club's male and female leads to have their very own second in commands amongst their peers in the club. Those seconds in command, aka. the deputy leads as I like to call them, would be amongst the first in the club alongside me to be made aware of any ideas that the male and female lead would have for group assignments or set lists for competitions, would hold the authority to second any notions suggested by the leads, and would also serve as our backup male and female lead in the event that our primary male and female lead aren't available."

The 13 students remained silent for about a minute. "I've never heard of this being done before," said Daniel.

"Not many people outside the club have," Mr. Schuester admitted. He let a sheepish smile come on his face. "I like to keep it a surprise for future members. Don't ask me why, I just do."

All the gleeks thought to themselves, and then started quietly whispering amongst each other to discuss this interesting new development. Except for Charlotte, who now was clearly starting to connect the dots and understand how she now potentially had the opportunity to potentially salvage her earlier idea of gaining influence amongst the club's inner workings alongside Daniel.

"You know," said Charlotte. "This is a pretty big matter." She nodded her head. "You'd have to be awfully careful to make sure that the right people are selected for the positions. After all, if the club is to function properly, you'd be wise to make sure that whoever gets selected for the deputy lead positions are people that your primary leads are capable of working with, can get along with well, and know each other well enough to be able to work smoothly together."

"Indeed, very true," said Mr. Schuester. "Which is precisely why the responsibility of selecting the deputy male and female lead will not be mine, nor that of any of the members who helped appoint the primary leads." He gestured towards Diana and Daniel. "Rather, it will be the job of our primary male and female lead to personally select whomever among you they wish to have as their respective second in command."

Charlotte slumped her shoulders yet again, her heart sinking considerably further. "Darn you," she thought to herself bitterly. "Setback after setback; God why must you hate me so?"

Mr. Schuester looked over at Diana. "Diana," he began, "as primary female lead, and the first primary lead to be officially appointed, you may now go ahead and select the lucky girl that you'd like to have as your deputy female lead."

Diana hesitated for a moment, but then nodded, and she looked around at the assembled gleeks sitting in front of her and Daniel, thinking carefully as to which of the 5 girls she'd select as her personal second in command in the glee club. As Diana carefully deliberated on her decision, Calvin turned his head to face Susan. "I have a very good feeling who she'll pick," he whispered.

Susan directed a smile of her own towards her autistic friend. "Join the club."

"I choose," Diana began. The other gleeks all looked to her in anticipation. She pointed at none other than Susan. "Susan Caraway, to be my deputy female lead."

Calvin turned his head to face Susan once more, a smug 'what did I tell you?' look on his face. Susan chuckled, and then rose from her chair. "I accept," said the brunette.

"Let's hear it for Susan everyone," said Mr. Schuester. The remaining seated gleeks applauded, with Calvin being particularly enthusiastic and even Hobbes joining in with a victorious cacophony of barks. As this happened, Susan made her way over to stand to Diana's left before curtsying to the audience.

When the applause finally winded down, Mr. Schuester looked over to Daniel. "Alright Daniel, now it's your turn to select your deputy male lead."

At the sound of this, the gleeks all leaned forward in anticipation. Except for Calvin, who now had a nervous look on his face as he seemed to finally realize a very real detail about the matter. "Whose Daniel going to pick?" he thought to himself. Then he grimaced as he realized a very unsavory potential outcome, and he turned his head to face Zach. Upon sight of the look that he now saw on the boy's face, Calvin's heart sank. Much like Calvin, Zach seemed quite confident indeed that, due to being Daniel's best friend just as much as Diana was Diana's, he would very likely be the one Daniel chose to be his second in command. Furthermore, judging from the look Calvin had seen the boy directing towards Susan more than once earlier that day, and was in fact seeing right this very minute directed towards her, he had a bad feeling just what Zach now potentially had in mind. Calvin's eyes narrowed. "Over my dead body," he thought to himself. But at the same time, what was he to do?

"Hmm," said Daniel, clearly deep in thought. Eventually, he nodded his head up and down, and he directed his gaze straight towards the seated gleeks. "I choose . . ."

"I volunteer."

Eyes widened and likewise in shock, Mr. Schuester, Hobbes, and 12 of the gleeks turned their heads towards Calvin, who had just now spoken and was rising from his seat with a determined look on his face. "I volunteer as deputy male lead."

Silence hung in the air.

"Um," said Mr. Schuester. He thought to himself. "I'll admit, this is rather unorthodox."

"Too bad," said Calvin. He nodded his head. "I volunteer."

All the students apart from Calvin turned their heads towards Mr. Schuester.

"Hmm," the teacher thought to himself. "Well in that case, do enlighten us as to why."

"Gladly." Calvin cleared his throat, and then lifted his finger as if to emphasize a point. "For starters, as Little Miss Hitler made pretty clear not too long ago, its best that the deputy and primary leads be capable of working together smoothly and know each very well. And as one of Susan's closest friends, I do say I fit that description."

Charlotte couldn't help but wince upon hearing Calvin say this. For indeed she remembered quite well how she'd made that point very clear quite a short time earlier.

"Secondly," Calvin continued. He turned his head towards Daniel. "I did join this club just as much to make new friends as to have fun. And while I still don't yet know a large number of you nearly as well as I could, I know enough about you so far that I daresay you'll likely make a good starting point in this little quest of mine."

Daniel chuckled, a nervous smile on his face. "I see. Thanks . . . I guess."

"Finally," Calvin continued, "by volunteering myself for the position and becoming this club's deputy male lead, I will thus successfully prevent you from choosing Lieutenant Lothario over there." He pointed his finger straight at Zach as he said that last bit. "And thus prevent him from adding Susan to his list of conquests."

Susan's eyes widened upon hearing this. The other students, Diana and Daniel included, also looked at Zach, their facial expressions silently asking if Calvin was telling the truth in his apparent suspicions. Zach turned his head to face Calvin, a half annoyed and half embarrassed look on his own face. "Hey now," said the African American boy. "Was that necessary?"

"Don't play dumb with me Skinner." Calvin turned his head to face Zach, his eyes narrowed into a glare. "I know your little history around here. And I saw the look you had on your face just now while you were looking at Susan before I volunteered myself. And I know, for a _fact_ that you were planning to try to bang her."

The other students started whispering excitedly amongst each other upon hearing all this. Zach, however, chuckled in a tone that sounded far more confident and proud then he was actually feeling at that particular moment, and then said. "Oh please, name one guy around here you've seen who's had the same facial expression you claim to have seen on my face and wanted to bang good Ms. Caraway."

"That's easy." Calvin folded his arms across his chest, narrow eyed glare still on his face. "Miles Surette."

At the sound of the unexpectedly quick response, Zach's face noticeably took on a less confident look. "Crap," he thought to himself.

Calvin nodded his head up and down. Then he walked over to the area directly in front of the seat Zach was sitting on and came to a stop so that he was directly facing the still seated African American boy. "And for that matter, you might like to know that Susan has never been violated, or likewise taken advantage of a single time in her life, period. Believe me, her parents and I are quite glad of that to."

He lifted his left foot, placed it down on the empty chair to Zach's right, and then leaned towards the black boy with his narrow-eyed glare still on his face. Incidentally, the positions the two boys were now in allowed Calvin to seemingly look considerably taller than Zach. "And as her friend," Calvin growled, his black eyes now noticeably glowing with a very real protective light. "I'd very much prefer that she _stay_ that way." As he said the last words, his teeth gritted into a silent snarl, and an ominously realistic t-rex like rumbling noise exited out of his mouth as he continued to stare Zach down.

Upon sight of the look Calvin was now giving him and hearing the nightmarish sound Calvin was making, Zach gulped, hung his head, and nodded as if to indicate he understood. "I see," he managed to say.

Upon hearing this, the other 8 students that remained seated, plus Hobbes and Mr. Schuester, and of course Diana and Susan, turned their heads towards Daniel, silently asking him for his opinion.

Daniel nodded his head up and down, a stunned look of approval on his face. "Ok then," said the dark-haired boy, his gray eyes agleam, "Everyone. Say hello to your new deputy male lead, Calvin Martenson."

In a flash, 7 of the students still seated started cheering and clapping in clear approval of the development. Mr. Schuester nodded his head, his face silently showing his own approval. Hobbes even went so far as to bark joyously as his master proceeded to unleash a series of velociraptor-like barking coughs in perfect synch. Susan chuckled, and shook her head side to side as she stared approvingly at Calvin. Diana and Daniel, likewise, looked pleased with what had now happened. Charlotte, however, had an angry looking glare on her face once more, and Zach was still hanging his head in apparent shame. Charlotte noticed this, and directed an intrigued look towards him. "Hmm," she thought to herself. "I wonder. . ."

The bell rang, ending the after-school session. "That's all for today everyone," said Mr. Schuester. "At this time, you're free to go. See you tomorrow!"

The students proceeded to exit the choir room, all in good spirits, though Zach was still somewhat humiliated from his experience not too long ago. What he didn't realize, however, was that Charlotte was now following close behind him with a devious look on her face. Already she had yet another plan in mind. About 10 minutes after they had both departed the choir room, she deemed it to be the right time to make her presence behind him known. "Hey Zach!"

Zach turned his head to face her, stunned by the sudden noise from behind him, and then his face softened in recognition. "Oh hey," he managed to say. "There something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes," Charlotte replied. "As a matter of fact, there is." She looked around the area as if checking for any potential watchers or eavesdroppers. She eventually smiled, clearly satisfied with the results of her search. She looked back at Zach. "Perhaps you could do me a small favor?"

 **And just like that, another chapter finished! Sorry I kept you all waiting for so long. Again, I hope very much that this chapter proves worth the wait. I also especially hope that you enjoyed the song selection for the three performances in this chapter. Speaking of which, it is an especially good idea for all readers (regardless of whether or not you've read the main GWAF story or are newcomers to the GWAFU) to make note of the two cheerios who were involved in Bailey's performance. These two cheerios play a somewhat significant role later on in the GWAFU continuity (particularly in regard to the treatment of a certain gay sophomore friend of Raj's). I also hope very much that you're pleased with seeing the results of the 'elections' for the glee club leadership. For that matter, I especially hope you like my little twist with the deputy male and female leads ^_^. On another note, you'd best take careful note of Zack's behavior in this chapter, Calvin's current apparent distrust of him, and how Cody and Raj didn't seem to hold very high an opinion of him in this chapter. Remembering this could prove very important in later chapters. That being said, once again, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and that you leave plenty of feedback. Seriously, I highly recommend that literally ANYONE who reads this chapter or story at all (guest or otherwise) leave a review. Granted, I've currently decided to go somewhat easier by lowering the minimum review per chapter quota to 2 per chapter. But even so, do leave reviews for this chapter and the 3 that came before it if you at all have the ability. Once again, hope you enjoyed!**

 **BTW, the songs used in this chapter are as follows:**

 **Telephone - Lady Gaga - Performed by Bailey Kellogg (with Abby Larson and Joanna Fu)**

 **New Soul - Yael Naim - Performed by Raj Patel**

 **The Lazy Song - Bruno Mars - Performed by Cody Nakamura**

 **Coming up next: Charlotte has some words to exchange with good ol' Coach Sylvester, Zack decides to make some changes to his behavior in an effort to attract Charlotte his way, and Susan very narrowly avoids experiencing the hard way just how far Zack is considering going in these very efforts.**


	5. Quitting While Ahead

**Hey ya'll! MAN, I SO did not intend for you to wait THIS long! For some odd reason, even with all the free time that I was provided with for being in the midst of Christmas break, I just got caught up in the overall 'laziness' inducing atmosphere of the season I suppose. But nevermind that! Here you all go! New chapter for the new year folks! Here's to hoping that this chapter is worth the HELL long wait! In this long awaited new chapter, Charlotte has some words to exchange with her coach (some of which explain the 'favor' she asked of Zach last chapter), and Zach comes up with a bold new idea to attempt to win Charlotte over. However, as Susan is about to very narrowly avoid figuring out the hard way, this plan of Zach's is not exactly what anyone (least of all his friends, or readers who are familiar with what he's like in the main GWAF story) would find savory. Sound good? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: But wait! First I'd best remind you! I DO NOT OWN GLEE! Get it? Got it? Good. Onward with the fic now!**

 **Chapter 5:**

 **Quitting While Ahead**

"And just what, may I ask, were you doing talking to that Skinner boy not too long ago?"

Charlotte mentally took a deep breath to keep herself calm. Coach Sylvester had made it clear many times in the past that she didn't entirely trust Zach Skinner, a boy she claimed to be 'a Puckerman in all but blood'.

"Coach," Charlotte began. "There is nothing to worry about here. That boy has not done anything towards me to earn your wrath. Believe me, if he had, I'd have already told you by now without you even needing to ask."

Sue Sylvester raised her left eyebrow. "You swear on that?"

Sue Sylvester, it had to be admitted, wasn't entirely certain herself why she was behaving the way she currently was. After all, as they both knew quite well, Charlotte had never lied to the coach before or similarly given her any reason not to be trusted. Furthermore, she also knew Charlotte well enough to be quite aware that Charlotte was a fighter and likewise strong-willed in nature, and that she would most certainly not be one to just give up or let others have their way with her without a fight. But even so . . .

"Maybe it's just that maternal instinct in me," Sue thought to herself. And indeed, she wouldn't be at all surprised if that were indeed the case. As she remembered quite well even now, it certainly wouldn't be the first time. She'd taken on this sort of role before for her own sister Jean. She'd taken on this role for former cheerio Becky Jackson. And she'd likewise sort of taken on a similar role with multiple other cheerios in the past, including Charlotte's much esteemed predecessor in the head cheerio position from Lord knew how many years past, Quinn Fabray. "All that in mind," Sue thought to herself, "why wouldn't the same happen to me all over again with Charlotte?"

Clearly, Charlotte had similar thoughts, as she did not seem at all offended by her coach's apparent questioning of her honesty. Rather, she patiently nodded her head with her eyes closed. She opened them again with a smile on her face. "Damn right I do. Need you ask?"

Sue couldn't help but let a small smile come on her face upon hearing this. "That's my girl," she thought to herself. She quickly let another poker-faced frown replace the smile, and then gave a curt nod. "Better safe than sorry."

Charlotte chuckled, and shook her head side to side. She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Nonetheless," said the cheerleader, "I had a perfectly good reason to be talking to him."

"Do enlighten me."

Charlotte smiled. "Nothing too big; just asking him to do me a little favor."

Sue's eyes narrowed.

"Not that kind of favor!" Charlotte hurriedly yelled, snapping her hands forward and frantically waving them around side to side in a placatory gesture. "Good God, no. It was nothing like that. I swear!"

For what seemed like an eternity, Sue continued to keep her eyes narrowed into a suspicion filled glare directed at the head cheerio. Then the coach took a deep breath, exhaled, and slowly nodded her head. "In that case," the coach began. She looked directly at Charlotte. "Just what sort of favor did you ask of him?"

Charlotte mentally took a deep breath, and she instinctively looked around as if checking for any watchers of eavesdroppers. She looked back at her coach. "You are aware of my little . . . quest . . . right?"

"How could I not be?"

"Fair enough."

Charlotte took another deep breath, but this time for real rather than in her head. "Well, you see, I've decided to try to see if I could get Zach to help manipulate Daniel down the right direction."

Sue raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Clarify," said the coach.

Charlotte nodded. "Well here's the thing," she began. "I've noticed over the last two years, perhaps ever earlier than that, how Zach seems to have some sort of . . . weakness . . . if you will . . . in my regard."

"He gets all lovey dovey for _every_ girl here." Sue then thought to herself. "Or at least . . . every attractive one his age that isn't already taken anyway."

"I know that," Charlotte admitted. "But even so, even with all that in mind, he always seems especially eager to please me."

Sue thought to herself. "True enough," she admitted grudgingly.

"And that being said," Charlotte continued, "I thought, perhaps maybe I could take advantage of that detail and allow him to be molded into an ally of mine in my efforts to get Daniel to finally get that message I've been trying to send him through his head and understand how he and I are destined to be together."

Sue thought to herself once more. "Hmm, I will admit, your reasoning is certainly sound." Charlotte smiled, only for it to fade when her coach suddenly started shaking her head side to side with her eyes closed. "But perhaps you've forgotten that he's also the quarterback's best friend." She looked at the head cheerio, her eyes narrowed. "And as far as I can tell, he seems more than willing to support the idea of Daniel getting together with that blonde Rachel Berry wannabe."

"And probably might very well be hoping to get in your pants himself rather than let Daniel get there instead," Sue thought to herself. But she certainly wasn't about to say that aloud to Charlotte.

Charlotte took a deep breath, and then exhaled once more. "I am aware of that coach," said Charlotte. "Really I am." Her wide smile returned. "But surely you didn't think that I hadn't thought of that?"

The coach raised her eyebrow once more. "Clarify."

Charlotte chuckled, her blue eyes agleam. "Well here's the thing." She looked left and right as if checking for any unwanted eyes and ears. She looked back at her coach. "I quite cleverly worded it in a way that wouldn't make it obvious that I'm hoping he'll end up directly helping me out in getting my hooks into his best friend."

"And how exactly _did_ you word it?"

Charlotte chuckled again. "Well here's the thing. I'm sure you are aware of the sort of treatment that tends to befall just about every student who becomes a member of the glee club right?"

"You don't say," Sue responded sarcastically as she thought about all the slushy facials, humiliations, and other unpleasant experiences that myriad past New Directioneers had been subjected to by the other students at McKinley High; particularly by the jocks.

"Well here's what I've asked Zach to do," said Charlotte. "Granted, the abuse hasn't begun yet, but it's bound to happen sooner or later. And when that does happen, Zach, assuming he goes through with my request, will be ready." She took another deep breath. "You see, as much as Daniel seems to really have his heart set on being a proud member of the glee club and following in the footsteps of that two left-footed dork he worships, I have a pretty good feeling that he's not at all looking forward to being subjected to any of the abuse to come from his fellow jocks.

"Therefore," Charlotte continued. "My plan is that, hopefully, Zach will be able to convince him to, in the hopes of proving himself to still be worthy of the jocks' respect and to get them to stop abusing him and anyone else in the glee club, start acting a bit more," she let a very unnerving grin come on her face. "Assertive."

Sue thought to herself. "Let me guess," she said. "When you say assertive, the definition you have in mind is the one that Plankton had in mind in that one episode of SpongeBob SquarePants when he manipulated SpongeBob into being an overly aggressive and mean-spirited jerk to all the other Bikini Bottom residents at the beach with them and forcing them all to leave to make way for construction of a new Chum Bucket facility."

Charlotte chuckled, her unnerving grin widening. "You hit the nail right on the head."

Sue nodded, seemingly not at all surprised by the confirmation. "Well I can certainly imagine such uncharacteristic behavior coming from Daniel being enough to do a number on the jocks and bullies and whatnot. But how is that supposed to help increase your chances of sinking your hooks into him?"

Charlotte giggled. "Now this is where the real beauty comes in." She giggled once more for a couple seconds, seemingly fighting to keep herself from falling to pieces in maniacal laughter at her perceived sheer genius. "Assuming Zach doesn't screw it all up in his description, Daniel will be led to believe that his behavior; or, more accurately, the potential cessation of any abuse against them by the jocks; will cause the glee club members that don't know him as well to be appreciative of him and look up to him as a hero, and perhaps even more willing to befriend him. And furthermore," she paused to let out another round of giggles. "He will also hopefully be put under the impression that it may even allow that undeserving rival of mine to be _especially strongly_ attracted to him."

Sue thought to herself. Truth be told, she could see a sizable amount of sense in Charlotte's thinking for this plot of hers. But even so . . . "And just what makes you think that Zach, and through him Daniel, would believe for even a second that your 'rival' as you put it would be even remotely attracted to an aggressive and overly jerkish asshole? Don't get me wrong, but that's kind of what I'm thinking you're hoping for Daniel to become."

"Well hey," said Charlotte, a smug smile of apparent triumph and pride on her face. "There are plenty of girls out there who are quite easily attracted to bad boys." She nodded her head, eyes closed, and sighing in content. "I myself included," she said to herself in a quite contented tone. She opened her eyes and smiled at her coach. "For all Daniel, or more importantly, Zach, knows, that undignified little shrew that thinks she's even the tiniest bit worthy of Daniel's love could yet have the potential for similarly becoming attracted to Daniel if he were to act more like a bad boy then a nice guy."

Sue thought to herself yet again. She was slowly warming up further and further to Charlotte's idea the more she learned about it. In fact, she now couldn't help but feel as if there were now a much younger mental and physical replica of herself sitting before her as she listened more and more to this seemingly quite devious plot. Her eyes narrowed. Of course, she had always been extra careful in virtually everything she did. "Assuming Zach gets it right," the coach began, "how can you know for certain that Daniel would actually believe that such behavior from him would result in what you want him to believe it will result in?"

"Like you said," said Charlotte. "Zach is his best friend." She nodded her head. "And from what I know, Zach's never given him any reason not to trust him in the past. As far as I can tell, he shouldn't have any reason at all not to trust Zach this time." She looked directly at her coach once more, a confident and smug wolf-like grin on her face once more. "And if the plan goes exactly as I hope it will, then by the time Daniel realizes just how much he's alienated and turned off Diana and all the other gleeks apart from myself and Zach and caused all manner of trouble and drama to unfold, it will be too late. He'll have lost both his intended love, destroyed his chances at gaining at least 10 new friends, and perhaps even damaged the club in more ways than one to cause it to practically self-destruct."

Charlotte took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And once that's happened," she continued, grin back on her face, "I'll be at the ready to step in and comfort him. By that point, he'll almost certainly be low and broken enough to accept comfort and cheering up from even me, and it will only stand to reason that it will be all the easier and swifter for him and I to finally become a couple." She nodded her head. "Just. Like. That."

With Charlotte having finished her explanation, Sue thought to herself. As the seconds went by, the coach found that there was now no way she could possibly deny it now. Her head cheerio's plan, while admittedly still more than a little flawed in some areas, was actually a pretty clever, devious, and acceptably thought out just enough plan. Then the coach found a small smile of smug satisfaction and pride come on her face as she thought of another detail. She had to admit, if the plan went just right enough, she herself certainly wouldn't at all say no to the potential utter destruction to befall the glee club.

The coach nodded her head with her eyes closed upon having that thought. For the last 22 years, she'd had a quite turbulent, rocky, and likewise uncertain relationship with the glee club. In fact, she'd held a deeply ingrained hatred of just about anything related to the arts, or at least the music and show choir-based elements of them ever since a very distressful and upsetting experience she'd had over the course of an attempt to audition for a part in the musical, _Oklahoma_ , at an especially young age. However, as deeply ingrained as said hatred was, it had often tended to alternate in overall levels of strength, passion, and dedication over the years. But then, 22 years ago, it had finally developed an especially firm and reliable anchor for it to be focused on when Mr. William Schuester had taken up the reigns of the glee club. And from that point onward, she and the glee club director; and, by extension, the glee club; had engaged in a long and turbulent war that had alternated so many times between truce and conflict that neither side was entirely certain how much either side truly hated the other or not anymore. In fact, over the course of so many near victories on her end, triumphs and rises from the ashes on the glee club's end, and various other events and developments to unfold over the course of it all, Sue herself had come to quite enjoy the whole business between her and the glee club and even now viewed Mr. Schuester as a worthy opponent to this day.

The coach shook her head to clear her thoughts. At that moment, the history of the whole matter was far from the most important thing to think about. What mattered the most at the current period, was that she was now currently in the midst of one of her 'anti-glee club' phases. She looked back at Charlotte, proud smile returning to her face. And judging by just how much of herself she was now starting to see in Charlotte, combined with how the young cheerleader had managed to think up a respectable enough plan of her own before Sue herself had even gotten close at the current point, Sue had a feeling that perhaps it would be beneficial for both Charlotte and herself to perhaps join forces even more securely then they already were as teacher and student.

The coach leaned forward. "Charlotte," she began. "I'm gonna tell you this now. Now that I know all the details, I must admit, your plan actually does sound pretty clever and devious."

Charlotte chuckled, a smug grin of her own on her face. "Why thank you coach, I'm flattered."

"Just as well," said the coach. Sue nodded her head. "Because with all that in mind, I am now strongly considering a very real proposition between us."

One look at Charlotte's face mere seconds after Sue said this, and the coach knew instantly that she'd gotten the head cheerio's attention. The teenager leaned forward. "I'm listening."

Sue felt a flare of pride and triumph flare up in her. "This is just like when I got so many other cheerios in the past that were members of the club to take on the exact same role," she thought to herself. She mentally steeled herself up once more. Now was not the time to allow any sign of weakness, real or otherwise, to show in her reserve. "You see Charlotte," she began. "As you may or may not be aware right this very moment, I'm currently in the midst of what you'd call one of my 'anti glee club phases'."

Charlotte nodded her head. "Indeed."

"Well now that I'm aware of what you've currently got hiding up your sleeve," the coach continued. "I think it would be beneficial, and wise, for the both of us if we were to join forces."

Charlotte thought to herself. "I'm liking what I'm hearing so far." She nodded her head. "Do keep going."

"To be more specific," said the coach. "I'd like you to take on the same role that so many cheerios before you, starting with the famed Unholy Trinity, have already taken on my behalf. I'd like you to work for me as my personal spy, instigator, and agent of doom amidst the glee club."

Charlotte thought to herself once more, a small grin starting to form on her face. "I will admit, that does sound rather appealing." Then she frowned. "But surely it won't be 100% necessary? I mean, what with my current plan and all."

"You can never be too careful," said the coach. "After all, as painful as it might be for you personally to consider the possibility, suppose your current plan were to fail, or at least not quite go the way you initially intend? Surely, in that case, it would be useful for you to have an ally to help you out in coming up with new plans or ways to adapt and allow your initial plan to evolve to account for any unexpected developments to unfold that aren't in your favor."

Charlotte considered her coach's words, and then nodded. "Fair point," she admitted.

The coach nodded as if to say 'exactly'. "And in the event that this partnership does indeed last longer than you currently appear to expect," the coach continued "it would be especially useful for the two of us to be in an alliance of the nature I'm currently suggesting." She leaned forward, Charlotte instinctively copying the motion, clearly still interested.

"The fact is, Charlotte," Sue began, "that we both could mutually benefit from a partnership of the nature I'm suggesting." The coach let a small smile appear come back on her face. "For starters, tell me this; what do we have in common?"

Charlotte thought to herself. "Aside from hair and eye color?"

Sue shook her head side to side, though with a somewhat amused smile on her face. "We _think_ alike." She lifted up her finger as if to further emphasize a point. "In fact," said the coach. "Just from listening to one current plot of yours alone, I have a feeling that we're almost certainly equals regarding intellect, brains, and smarts."

The coach gestured towards a small framed picture on her desk that portrayed a photographic image of herself and a teenage Quinn Fabray from the latter's time as a student in the McKinley High cheerleading squad. "Virtually every other cheerio that's taken the position I'm now offering you has acted far more often than not as enforcers for plans strictly thought up in their entirety by myself." She pointed at Charlotte. " _You_ , however, are clearly able to think up clever plots on your own just like me." She nodded her head. "In fact, as hard as you might find it to believe, you've actually now managed to think up a clever plot of your own while I myself was still miles away from successfully cooking up yet another plot of my own."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "Really?"

Sue nodded her head. "Really," the coach confirmed. She stared intently at Charlotte once more. "And that being said, here's where we could mutually benefit. For despite our common ground on intellect level and skill at coming up with plots, we also have very real differences." She pointed at Charlotte once more. "As I've freely admitted to you just now, you are young, and are able to think up plans far more swiftly then my current age allows me."

Charlotte made a facial expression of mock shock. "Oh, that can't be true," said the cheerleader. "Aren't you still in your 30s or 40s?" She let a jocular grin come on her face.

Sue sighed, and shook her head side to side. Then she directed a withering 'really?' look at Charlotte. "Charlotte, my efforts at convincing people of all that stopped fooling people years ago. And really, I believe we have more important things to discuss right now?"

Charlotte silently gulped, and briefly hung her head, suitably chastened. "Right," she admitted. "Sorry."

"As I was saying," said Sue. "You are young. Thus, you have proven yourself to possess a mind capable of cooking up plots at a speed that has long since left me." She pointed at herself. "But while you have the skill at plotting, and the strength and speed of mind necessary to get them planned and set up in a timely fashion, I have experience."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow in confusion. "But I've been thinking up plans for the last two years."

"Indeed, you have." Sue raised her finger to forestall further comment from Charlotte. "However," the coach explained, "you have, so far, mostly only ever thought up plots focusing on getting your hooks sunk into the quarterback. And any plots you've thought up that aren't intended for that purpose have likewise only been developed with the intent of fulfilling similarly small-term goals." She pointed at Charlotte, simultaneously leaning forward. "However, with this current plot, you're now not only trying to get Daniel wrapped around your fingers as your lover boy, but you are also hoping to potentially bring about the successful, and perhaps even permanent, destruction of the glee club. And even if this current plot of yours wasn't the first plot with such an expanded and long-term goal in mind, that still doesn't change the fact that you've only been taking part in this kind of work for only two years."

The coach pointed back at herself. "Whereas I," she continued, "have _22_ years' worth of experience. And in that time, there have been _hundreds_ of plans I've cooked up to stir up trouble amongst the glee club and bring it down." The coach nodded her head. "To put it simply, with your youthful mental ability, my experience, our combined intellect, passion, and skill at plotting, _and_ a clear common goal, we could, by working together, achieve both our dreams in one fell swoop."

For what seemed like an eternity, Charlotte thought to herself. Truth be told, she could actually see the appeal in what her coach was offering. And not only that, but she also couldn't help but feel honored. After all, as she herself had freely admitted during the recess session of glee club that day, she very strongly idolized Quinn Fabray, a McKinley High alumna who'd been a member of the glee club, a member of the cheerleading squad, and one of coach Sylvester's personal agents set to try to assist her in her work at getting the club thoroughly destroyed beyond hope of return. And the fact that the esteemed coach now seemed willing to consider her worthy of taking on the exact same role as her idol filled her with considerable pride. But still . . . "Can I think about it for a few days?" She slowly hung her head as if trying to avoid eye contact with her coach. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I feel honored, and I do find the idea appealing. But even so . . ." She lifted her head back up. "It's a lot to consider."

Sue Sylvester thought carefully to herself, considering what Charlotte had said. Then she nodded her head up and down. "Understandable." She looked back at Charlotte. "Tell you what; how about I allow you all the way till the end of school this Friday to think my offer over?"

Charlotte considered the suggestion. "I think I can manage that."

"Good." Sue pointed at her current head cheerio once more. "Remember, you have until the end of school this Friday to decide. I will be expecting your answer no later than that. That deadline passes and I haven't received an answer from you? No joke, I will assume that your answer will be no. And in the event that your answer is determined to be 'no', regardless of whether directly stated by you or implied by tardiness, you won't get any further chance at taking me up on my offer. You hear me? This is a strictly one-time deal? Got that?"

Charlotte nodded her head. "Got it. Understood coach."

"Good." Sue Sylvester pointed towards the door to her office. "Now get the Hell out of my office."

. . . . .

At around the same time that Charlotte was in the midst of her meeting with Sue Sylvester, Zach was wandering around the McKinley High hallways, seemingly deep in thought. As it happened, he was thinking carefully about what Charlotte had talked to him about not too long after departure from the choir room before parting ways with him to meet up with her coach.

However, while the words Charlotte had said to him had turned out to have indeed inspired Zach into action, they had not quite had the intended effect that Charlotte had been hoping for. Zach mentally winced as he thought once more about the exact nature of the favor Charlotte had asked of him not too long ago. From the way Charlotte had behaved the last two years regarding Daniel, and in fact just the previous Friday, he thought it oddly uncharacteristic of Charlotte to be at all interested in trying to help Daniel potentially get together with Diana. And furthermore, while nowhere as close to Diana as Daniel when it came to friendship, he knew her just well enough to know that she would not only be not at all interested in Daniel if he were to behave the way Charlotte had suggested for him to try convincing Daniel to act, but that such behavior from him would also very likely prove a brutal turn off for her. And he had a good feeling that the other 9 students in the club alongside them wouldn't find such behavior from Daniel any more appealing than Diana would.

But even though he had no intention of attempting to carry out the exact actions that Charlotte had requested of him, her words had inspired him into thinking of a little idea of his own. As he remembered quite clearly, she had said something along the lines of 'all girls like bad boys'. And that had him thinking of how, if what he'd heard about her developing reputation over the years, Charlotte herself seemed to have something of a natural attraction for bad boys, and had reportedly gone all the way with more than one boy to fit such a description.

"I wonder," he thought to himself. "If I were to act more like a bad boy myself, would she perhaps be more attracted to _me_?"

As he had the thought, he slowly started to find more and more appeal and sense in the idea. "Maybe I need to up my game a little," he thought to himself. "Maybe I've been playing the whole business too safe. Maybe I need to raise the stakes a little." He let a small smile come to his face. "Yes, that's right, maybe I should do that. After all, if this works, maybe Charlotte will finally get her attention away from Daniel and allow her to fall for me. And then, once she's firmly fallen for me, maybe she'll love me enough for me to further win her over when I shed my bad boy persona and allow her to fully come to love me as a nice guy. And besides, I'm sure that the other students in the glee club will understand the necessity once I finish."

Zach nodded his head. "Yes," he thought to himself. "This is exactly what I must do." He lifted his head, a wide grin now on his face. "And I know _just_ the way to start." In a flash, he drew out his phone and accessed a number on his contacts list. It was time to get the show on the road.

. . . . .

Susan couldn't have felt more relieved to finally be ready to leave to go home. "That book club meeting took forever," she thought to herself as she drew out the last of the supplies from her locker that she'd need to take home with her for the evening. "On the bright side," she thought to herself. "Now I'm done with school for today, and I can go home." She placed the supplies she'd drawn from her locker into her backpack, zipped it closed, and then closed her locker.

"Going somewhere?"

Susan briefly reared back in surprise upon hearing the unexpected voice coming from her right; but she managed to regain her senses in time to turn her head and narrow her eyes at the sight of a Chinese American girl standing right by her. In fact, from the way the girl was positioned, the open locker door from earlier would have almost certainly been covering up her face and the top half of her body. Now, the girl in question had a half joyous and half scheming smile on her face.

Susan's glare never once faltered. "Yes," she responded curtly. "I was just about to go out and go home." She gestured around the area. "Maybe you don't know this, but school's done for today now. Why are you still here?"

The Chinese American girl chuckled, shaking her head side to side. "Simple." She folded her arms across her chest. "We're doing a good acquaintance of ours a favor."

Susan raised her eyebrow. "Ours?" she asked. "What do you mean ours?"

"Nice to meet you to."

Susan turned her head away from the Chinese American, and her eyes briefly widened in surprise at the sight of twelve other girls that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere while she'd been busy talking with the first one she'd seen. "What the?" she thought to herself; then her eyes narrowed. "When the Hell did you punks get here?" she then asked aloud.

"That's none of your concern."

The speaker, a blonde, folded her arms across her chest, a proud and confidant look on her face. "All you need to know is that we're all here to help a very good acquaintance of ours show you what you've been missing out on."

Susan raised her eyebrow again, not comprehending. "What are you talking about?" she asked irritably. "Stop beating around the bush!"

"All business I see."

Susan's blue eyes briefly widened once again. Then they narrowed irritably as she recognized the voice she'd just heard from behind her. She turned around, narrow-eyed glare still on her face. Sure enough, as she'd just come to suspect, none other than Zach Skinner was standing right there.

She mentally groaned. "Why am I not surprised?" she asked out loud. She glared at the black boy once more. "After everything that went down in glee club not too long ago, I guess I should have been expecting you to pull off some half-brained nonsense like this."

Zach seemed to wince upon hearing this, and he shook his head side to side. "Look, I get it," he began. "I probably could have timed this better. . ."

"Oh, timing aint the half of it," Susan growled. She straightened up angrily. "And here I was thinking Calvin had already gotten the message through to you effectively enough, or that perhaps maybe he might have misjudged you. But clearly, Calvin was both correct in his thoughts about you and not effective enough at getting the point across to you." She turned her head, raising up her right hand in a dismissive gesture. "But I'll go ahead and save you the trouble. I know what you're going to ask; and my answer is no."

Zach could already feel himself mentally wincing. Clearly, things were not quite going exactly the way he'd imagined they would. "Susan, please," he said. "You don't know 100% for certain what I'm planning here. . ."

"Yeah well, knowing what kind of person you are, and your typical motive behind going after any sort of girl like this at all, I daresay it's quite obvious what you've got in mind here."

Susan folded her arms across her chest once more. "And the fact that you appear to have hired all these love-sick floozies to gang up on me and keep me here for you is not helping your case."

Twelve of the other girls behind Susan bristled at the sound of Susan calling them floozies, but a glare from the Chinese American girl that had initiated the whole meeting between them all was enough to keep them in line.

Zach winced once more. Susan was indeed correct. As it so happened, in between the day's recess and after-school sessions of glee club, he had met up with multiple fan girls of his and asked them if they were willing to consider doing him a favor at some point or other. Later, after finally making a firm decision to go through with his new plan at attempting to win Charlotte's favor, he had called back his apparent lead fan girl, the Chinese American, to confirm that he still wished for her and her pals to help fulfill the favor he was willing to ask of them. And now, here they were, having managed to make sure that Susan was still present at school for him to present his case to her; and incidentally, as Susan had now pointed out, not helping his case at all.

"Susan," Zach began. "Please, just hear me out. I really do want to be your friend. . ."

"Ok stop right there." Susan shook her head side to side. "You see, normally I'd have no problem with a person wanting to be my friend. However, right now, in my case, when you say you want to be my friend, what you really mean is that you want me to be your newest bedding partner. And I know I told you this already, but my answer to that is no."

Zach mentally sighed, and shook his head side to side. His thirteen fan girls, meanwhile, were all gaping uncomprehendingly at Susan. "What is with her?" they all thought to themselves in unison. "How could she possibly turn down an offer like this from such prime eye candy? Doesn't she have any idea what she's willingly allowing herself to miss out on right now?"

Susan shook her head side to side once more. "And don't even try to say anything more to convince me. Because no matter what you say, I can tell you right now, that it sure as Hell won't work." She turned her head away once more, extending _both_ hands this time in a dismissive gesture instead of just her right hand. "I've already got enough future rapists trying to get in my pants already. And I've gotten an especially abhorrent admirer named Miles Surette eying me up and down even now. So really, I don't need you making my life more stressful then it already is."

Susan looked back at Zach, still glaring. "And besides, as Calvin made quite clear back in the choir room, it would be much wiser and better for your health to let sleeping dogs lie and leave me alone. Trust me, if you've paid any attention to what's happened to all the other guys who've tried to take him on, you'd know how antagonizing him and running the risk of angering him is the absolute last thing any sane man would want to do. And that's being optimistic considering what he could just as easily have Hobbes do them if he weren't so merciful and law abiding."

At that moment, the Chinese American girl gave Susan a forceful pat on the back, almost causing her to stumble forward straight at Zach. The tanned skinned Caucasian managed to keep her footing with barely a single movement, and she turned her head with a rather hateful looking glare now directed at the Asian American girl. "Excuse me?" she hissed. "But what was that for?"

"Good grief," said a single ginger haired girl amongst the group. "What is it with you?"

"Yeah," said a blonde standing next to the redhead. "Don't you have any idea what you're missing out on here?"

Susan's eyes narrowed even further. "Hate to break it to you," she said in a tone that sounded like she could care less what the girls thought, "but there are things out there that are more than worth missing out on." She pressed her finger against the chest of the redhead. "Cancer for instance." She pressed her finger again. "Or earthquakes." She pressed her finger a third time. "Or better yet, getting attacked by a wild animal."

"So? What's so bad about Zach?"

This question came from one of the blondes. The blonde in question folded her arms across her chest. "He's not any of those things."

Susan rolled her eyes, and folded her arms across her chest. "No, he is not," she admitted. She glared. "However," she then stated. "The kind of thing he's asking of me? To truly be enjoyed, or meaningful, it needs to be consensual on both ends." She pointed at herself. "I'm not consenting." She pointed at the other girls. "And the fact that he and you punks are trying to force me into giving myself over to his tender mercies is starting to make this situation I'm trying to avoid seem very reminiscent of an equally distasteful situation. The situation in question? Rape." She folded her arms back across her chest. "And like I said, I've already got enough future rapists gunning for me amongst the student body in this dumb place. And they're at least willing to respect my wishes. So really, the last thing I need is to add a boy who doesn't want to respect my wishes to that list."

Susan turned around to face Zach once more. "Now I'm going to say this one time only." She gestured to the side. "Get out of my way, let me go home, and leave me alone."

It took all of Zach's willpower not to groan. "This is _so_ not going my way," he thought to himself. He extended his hands forwards as if to try to placate Susan. "Susan, please," he began.

"Fine." Susan turned her head away in an almost haughty gesture of annoyance and dismissal. "If you're going to be pigheaded like that, I'll just go the other way." She turned around to walk down the direction opposite Zach, only for the thirteen girls behind her to tightly group together to block her way.

"Not happening."

At the sound of that phrase, Susan raised her eyebrow, now quite mystified by the behavior of the thirteen girls. "I beg your pardon?"

The Chinese American girl shook her head side to side, a clear smirk on her face. She pointed past Susan towards Zach. "Hate to break it to you; but until you let McKinley's top dude bring you up to our speed, you're not leaving."

Susan's eyes narrowed once more. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh, I kid you not." The Chinese American girl pointed her finger at Zach again, this time in a seemingly more insistent fashion. "Come on now girl, we don't have all day."

"Yeah," Susan growled sarcastically. "Not happening."

"Oh, come on," said one of the blondes. "Stop being such a prude! You'll love it!"

Susan almost spitefully blew a raspberry. "Like Hell I'll love it! You're asking me to say yes to being raped!"

"Not cool and not true," said the redhead. She folded her arms across her chest. "Come on. Just make this easier for everyone; stop acting like a prude," she pointed at Zach, "and get on with it."

Susan scowled, and folded her arms across her chest. "Over my dead body."

"Have it your way then." The Chinese American girl looked over at her twelve companions. "You two," she said, simultaneously pointing to indicate the single redhead and the blonde that had spoken not too long ago. "Help her out."

"With pleasure."

The two girls walked up to Susan, grabbed her by the shoulders, and forcefully turned her around to face Zach.

Fortunately, Susan reacted in time to lean herself back and prop up her feet so that her heels would now be dragging across the floor, effectively impeding the other girls' efforts at dragging her over to Zach. "Stop this," she hissed as she continued to push herself backwards against the grip of the two other girls. "Let me go!"

"Not," the blonde growled as she and her friend pushed equally hard to force Susan forward towards the still patiently waiting Zach. "Happening."

"Come . . . on," the redhead snarled as she tried just as hard to successfully struggle against Susan's stubbornly impeding her and her friend. "Stop . . . making . . . this . . . difficult!"

"Let me go, and I will! By LEAVING!"

"For the love of God, girl," said the blonde, now having positioned herself in front of Susan so that she was now pulling on her by the left hand. "Just let Zach-attack do his work!"

Susan snarled, half out of rage over the continued efforts by the girls at forcing her into an unwilling sexual encounter with Zach, and half out of dumbfounded shock at the outrageous pet name they appeared to have cooked up for the boy. "No!"

"Please," the redhead hissed as she continued to push on Susan's right shoulder.

"I. SAID. NO!"

At that point, Zach decided his input would be necessary. "Susan, please." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

Susan narrowed her eyes, snarled, and then spat in the direction of his face. "Screw you!"

"Susan," Zach said, calm and reasonable as ever. "Just relax. It won't be that bad!"

Susan growled, gritting her teeth in a feral snarl. "Go. To. Hell."

"Susan," said Zach. "Just trust me. Everything will be fine. It will only take a few. . ."

Bang!

Zach tensed up, mouth shut, eyes widened, completely speechless. Such was the effect of the quite painful pounding he'd just now unexpectedly felt upon the back of his head. For what seemed like an eternity, time seemed to stand still. Then, with a groan, Zach's eyes closed, and he fell to the floor with a thud, flat on his face.

For a brief moment, the 14 girls gaped in shock down at the unconscious Zach. Then they all looked up, 13 of them still gaping in speechless shock while Susan's own shocked expression morphed into a clearly relieved look of gratitude. Standing right behind the downed casanova was none other than what looked like a very annoyed Calvin. In his right hand, there was, inexplicably enough, a large frying pan. And standing right behind him, peeking out from behind his legs, was a very deadpan, yet dumbfounded, looking Hobbes.

Calvin looked down at the unconscious Zach, and then shook his head side to side. "What part of 'no' did you not get?" Naturally, the unconscious boy didn't respond.

Calvin snorted in derision, and lifted his head to face the 14 girls in front of him. After about a minute of dead silence, Calvin raised his eyebrow. "Well?" he asked. "What are you waiting for? Aren't you gonna say something?"

In that instant, the Chinese American girl was the first one to finally regain her voice, and she pointed her finger at Calvin, a scandalized look or horror on her face. "You idiot!" she screamed, her voice now noticeably shrill. "What have you done!?"

Calvin's eyes narrowed, and he pretended to think to himself. "Hmm, I'd say I've just now managed to successfully prevent a rape." He looked over at Hobbes. "That sound about right to you boy?"

Hobbes appeared to think to himself. Then he barked twice, and seemingly nodded his head up and down with his eyes closed as if consciously agreeing with his master. Susan chuckled, and shook her head side to side with a bemused smile on her face.

The other thirteen girls, however, were not so pleased. "Is that all you have to say?!" the Chinese American girl yelled.

Calvin thought to himself. "Well considering I just saved my good friend Susan and the rest of you from getting raped by this douche," he pointed at Zach. "Would a 'you're welcome' suffice?"

"He wasn't going to rape us!" the 13 fan girls yelled.

"Oh yes, that's right," Calvin admitted. Then he glared at the girls. "He was just going to rape Susan; my best friend, and a girl I specifically told him was off limits, and that she herself made quite clear not too long ago she wanted nothing to do with."

"I know, right?" said Susan. She gestured at the girls in a 'see what I have to deal with' indicative fashion. "What's with them?"

"Exactly," Calvin said in agreement, a small smile now on his face. Then he looked back at the other 13 girls, glare back on his face. "Alright girls. I'm gonna say this once." He pointed at Susan. "Let my friend go."

The 13 fan girls all narrowed their eyes in unison, glaring almost hatefully at the autistic boy. The Chinese American ring leader even went so far as to stick his tongue out at him. "Make us, loser."

Calvin's own eyes narrowed, and Hobbes let out a low snarl. "Don't. Tempt. Me."

The two girls holding onto Susan sneered. "Or else what retard?" They chuckled. "You'll bore us to death with all your random trivia drivel?"

Calvin very noticeably tensed up at the sound of the word 'retard'. "I'm. Serious," he snarled. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then exhaled. When his eyes opened back up, Susan could instantly tell from the now very dark look in his already dark black eyes that her autistic friend was now in even less of a mood for funny business then he'd already been. "Let her go, or you'll be sorry."

"Oh really? What you gonna do?" The Chinese American girl chuckled after saying this, her 12 cohorts chuckling alongside her. "Hit us with that cheap plastic frying pan you brought from home? Please, we all know that aint gonna happen." She shook her head side to side, and then looked back at Calvin, an almost bored look on her face and her hands on her hips. "So unless you've got the balls and spine to even _try_ to prove that your serious about this, why don't you be a good little retard, leave this school, take your brainless mutt with you, and stay out of our business?"

"Very well," said Calvin. "I will."

The Chinese American girl had all of one second to process this comment before Calvin very abruptly walloped her in the face with the frying pan. Caught 100% off guard by the unexpected blow to the face, the Chinese American girl stumbled back three steps before falling flat on her back. After what felt like an eternity, the pain on her face diminished sufficiently enough for her to open her eyes and lift herself up into a sitting position.

"Hurt didn't it?"

The Chinese American girl gaped in stunned shock at Calvin, who smirked, and then said. "Just as it should have." He indicated the frying pan. "Because A: this isn't plastic; it's made of real metal. And B," he pointed down the hall behind him. "I didn't bring it here from home. I borrowed it from the Home Economics classroom; a room that might I add, was conveniently left open and unlocked." His eyes narrowed into a glare. "And another thing."

Without warning, he threw down the frying pan so that the circular portion of it pounded against the Chinese American girl's groin hard enough to go flying back up in the air for him to catch by the handle. The luckless fan girl reared her upper body forward, face tensed up, and wheezing in pain while instinctively placing her hands on her now quite pounded groin. Calvin pointed his finger at her accusingly, glare still on his face and frying pan firmly back in his right hand's grasp. "That, was for calling me a retard. I'm Autistic. There's a difference. A _very_ big difference. And that being said. . ."

He looked away from the Chinese American girl. All twelve of her fellow fan girls looked quite in shock. Even Susan looked somewhat stunned by just what she'd now seen him do. He snorted, pointed at the Chinese American girl with his left hand, and said, "There, proof of seriousness." He lifted the pan in his right hand. "Who's next?"

For a brief few seconds, the other 12 girls remained frozen in shock. Then, as one, they all gulped, and looked at each other nervously in the eyes. Then they looked at Susan, who now had a half annoyed and half smug look on her face. Then they looked back at Calvin, hearts sinking as they saw the cold and angry look on his face that very clearly showed he was serious. The 12 girls looked back at Susan again. As one, they all stepped away from her, the two that had been gripping her and trying to force her towards Zach almost instantaneously letting go of her hand and shoulder in the process and raising their hands in surrender with nervous looks on their faces.

Susan very noticeably squirmed her shoulders for a couple seconds after being set free, then she snapped herself to a stop, glared at the redhead, then the blonde, and growled in irritation before then storming over to where Calvin and Hobbes were standing.

Calvin directed a now concerned look towards Susan. "You alright?"

"Heck yeah," said Susan. "Thanks to you."

"Good." Calvin looked back at the thirteen fan girls who'd tried to help Zach get his way with Susan, his eyes narrowed once more into an angry glare. "Let this be a lesson for you lot." He pointed at the still unconscious Zach. "And for your overrated dumbass God-wannabe to!" He folded his arms across his chest. "I don't care how much you might hate the idea, or how many times I'll have to pound that numbskull on the back of the head with a frying pan to get the point through, but this girl here. . ." he gestured at Susan, "is off limits." He turned his head to Hobbes. "Right boy?"

"Grr," Hobbes growled in a clear canine tone of agreement.

"Thought so."

Calvin looked back at the fan girls. "When he wakes up," he pointed at Zach. "Tell him I have a message for him." He leaned forward, an almost owl-like look of intensity now in his eyes that very much left the fan girls quite freaked out upon sight of it. "Susan is off limits. Your precious golden boy lothario needs to grow a brain and quit while he's ahead. And it will not; I repeat, _will not_ ; matter how many times he asks or what he tries to pull. The answer is no. N. O. That spells 'no'. It means, _no_."

Calvin leaned back to full standing height. "And if you and your pathetic false god don't like that, then two words." He flipped the finger at the 13 fan girls, whose eyes widened in shock at the sight of the gesture. Even Susan looked caught off guard by the unexpected move on Calvin's part. "Fuck you."

Susan found herself even more caught off guard upon hearing Calvin say this. As Calvin's only true friend, she knew him perfectly well enough to know that he rarely _ever_ swore. And in all the rare times he _had_ sworn before now, he had _never_ dropped the F-bomb before. "He must _really_ be angry right now," she thought to herself. The 13 fan girls, likewise, were stunned speechless.

Calvin growled, swung the frying pan in his hand thrice in a clockwise circle. "And while we're at it; I'm also aware of how your precious false God likes to have you all line up and kiss him under the mistletoe at the McKinley High Christmas dance."

At that very moment, Zach was starting to groan and slowly return to consciousness, all while weakly swiping his hands around the area in front of him to try to give himself a means of support to get back up. As this happened, Calvin said, "Well tell him that if he tries to pull a mistletoe stunt, or any other stunt, on Susan after today, he can pucker up. . ." He slammed the frying pan down upon Zach's backside. "AND KISS IT!"

Zach's eyes snapped open, and he unconsciously spat in a mixture of pain and shock from the unexpected blow to his backside.

Calvin, seemingly not at all aware of Zach's reaction to the blow, directed one final glare towards the 13 still shocked speechless fan girls, and then snorted derisively. "That being said." He flipped the finger at them once more. "Fuck you." He turned around so that only his head was still facing the direction of the fan girls. "And goodbye."

With the farewell out of the way, Calvin turned his head to face Susan. "Shall we be off?"

Susan nodded her head. "Gladly."

The autistic boy, his neurotypical best friend, and the well trained therapy dog turned away and began to make their way down the hall towards the nearest school exit and away from the thirteen fan girls and the slowly rising Zach; Calvin's arm left arm around Susan's shoulders, Susan shaking her head and hair side to side in relief, and Hobbes happily panting and wagging his tail. When the trio was about 10 feet away from the scene of the incident, Calvin proceeded to casually, as if in an afterthought, toss the borrowed frying pan back through the air behind him towards Zach and the fan girls.

At that very moment, right as Zach was inches away from reaching a point where he'd be able to slip his knees out from under him and properly straighten back up onto his feet, the frying pan bopped him on the back of his head a second time and then clattered to the floor in front of him before sliding to a stop mere centimeters in front of the still downed Chinese American girl. Zach had just enough time for his eyes to widen, and to then direct a brief gaze at the guilty frying pan before he then let out a sigh, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed flat on his face a second time, unconscious once more. By the time the fan girls managed to wake him back up and he reached his car to drive home about 15 minutes later, every single other student, and all but four or five of the faculty had already left to go home themselves.

 **And just like that, we FINALLY have a new chapter done and posted! Here's me hoping you enjoyed this chapter, that it was truly worth the longer than intended wait, and that you leave plenty of feedback. Remember, just like with the previous chapter, I require (I repeat, REQUIRE) a MINIMUM of TWO reviews for this new chapter. That quota fails to get met? No chapter 6. That being said, I again hope you enjoyed this chapter! And I might as well mention this now; just to let you all know, at this point in the GWAFU, with many months left to go before the events of chapter 16 in GWAF, Zach, Daniel, and Calvin have not yet had the time to develop themselves or their relationship to the point that they have the almost brother-like friendship between them that they have for the majority of the main GWAF story. That being said, you'd best prepare to see me go into Zach's unexplored darker side from before the chapter 16 point of GWAF. Believe me, what he tried to pull to get his new 'operation attract Charlotte' plan into motion? This won't be the last we see of 'Dark Zach'. Make careful note of that. You. Have. Been. Warned.**

 **Coming up Next: The very next day, Diana finds herself undergoing a unique personal mental peptalk, Daniel decides to make an active effort to better get to know his new 2nd in command, and Calvin himself finds himself (much to his surprise and delight) well on the way to making yet another close friend or two far earlier than he was expecting.**


	6. A Budding Bromance in the Making

**Hey everybody! Hope you're ready for more Glee-ful work! Cuz here's a new chapter! In this new installment to my latest work in the GWAFU, Diana undergoes a unique mental peptalk, Daniel decides to make an effort at better getting to know his newly appointed 2nd in command, and Calvin finds himself (much to his delight and surprise) well on the way to making a new friend or two far earlier then he expected. Sound worth reading? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: But first, just so you're warned, I do not own Glee. I also do not own the song featured in this chapter. And for that matter, I also do not own Teen Titans, Naruto, or Spyro the Dragon/Legend of Spyro either. All I own are my OCs. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 6:**

 **A Budding Bromance in the Making**

The very next day, Diana was walking slowly through the hallways of McKinley High, thinking to herself as she attempted to get to where her locker was located. At the same time, however, her mind was far more focused now on a certain especially close friend of hers and the very complicated situation she now found herself in because of some half much desired and half inconveniently timed feelings she felt for him.

She sighed, and placed her fist up against her chest, thinking dreamily about the moment she was certain had been the time in which she'd finally recognized the feelings in question for what they were. In moments like this, she felt as if it were only yesterday that she and Daniel had undergone that fateful moment. At the time, they had chosen to hang out with their families at the local Italian restaurant Breadstix to celebrate their upcoming first day at McKinley High as high school freshmen. At first, things had seemingly unfolded quite normally for the pair, with no element of the outing seeming at all out of the ordinary between the two of them. However, later in the outing, all the way from the middle of it to the end when it had come time for them to leave with their families and go home, Diana remembered quite clearly how she had slowly found herself feeling surprisingly very warm, strange, and almost nervous around Daniel. In fact, she had found herself feeling this way around Daniel increasingly often over the course of the entirety of their time in middle school and the summer between 8th grade year and 9th grade year. But of course, it had, naturally, not been until that fateful outing at Breadstix that Diana finally came to realize the exact nature of those feelings for what they truly were. She'd read enough books and seen enough movies and likewise been exposed to enough media to understand it. She'd even gone so far as to ask her parents about the feelings in question to make extra certain, and their answers had only further confirmed her suspicions. She was in love with Daniel; of that she was positive.

Diana lifted her head, lowered her fist, and stared dreamily at nothing in particular, seemingly in her own little world. She could remember now how, over the course of the first week of high school she'd ever experienced, she had felt so on top of the world and unstoppable after coming to realize that she was in fact in love with her best friend. She had now known how all the lucky in love girls she'd seen in the fictional stories felt, and she'd been so happy having finally gotten the chance to undergo the experience herself.

However, one week later, Diana had finally managed to come down from the emotional high that her realization had placed her in. And in the process, she'd come to notice two factors that had made her feel considerably less confident about her situation. As far as she could tell, Daniel had not at all shown any signs, at least that she knew of anyway, that he had at all undergone any similar effects or felt any similar way towards her that she now felt towards him. Furthermore, around that point, she'd come to notice how Charlotte Thornton, who had spent virtually all middle and elementary school hardly paying any attention to Daniel at all, had now somehow come to view him as an object of her own affections and started trying to make moves on him herself. Naturally, over time, Diana had come to become noticeably less and less confident about herself and her own worthiness of being anything but a close friend of Daniel's to the point that she even now couldn't help but feel as if she were mentally torturing herself over the whole business 24/7. "It's not fair," she thought to herself.

Diana hung her head, sighing in a rather defeated sounding tone. "Why did _she_ have to get involved? She never had that kind of interest in him before high school. What made her change her mind in the summer after middle school graduation? Why did I have to wait till _Freshman year_ to understand how I felt about Daniel? Why does _she_ , as mean and hateful as she is, have to be so much prettier and more deserving of him then me?

"You're not the only one whose thought that way you know."

Diana's eyes widened, and she quickly looked around the area. Her eyes then narrowed in confusion, as there appeared to be no one else present in the hallway with her. Then she heard a chuckle, and her eyes narrowed further. The chuckling had sounded somewhat lower and raspier then the one that she'd heard speaking prior.

"Who's there?" she asked.

"Come now," said a third disembodied voice. "Surely you know better than that."

At that moment, Diana realized what was going on, and she shook her head side to side with a bemused look on her face. "I get it now," she thought to herself. She turned her head to her right. Sure enough, the very area she was now looking at, an area that she _knew_ had been empty when she'd looked there not too long before reaching her current thoughts, was now occupied by three very distinctive figures that could only have been present there under very specific circumstances.

In that instant, Diana sighed, and shook her head side to side once more. "Yep," she thought to herself. "Just as I thought." She gazed back at the three figures. "This is one of my little mental pep talks that my mind tends to often subject me to when I experience situations like this."

Diana was not crazy, or similarly mentally challenged. Not at all. However, when she found herself in situations where she had particularly high difficulty in thinking about what to do, her subconscious and mental voice of reason tended to somehow take on the form of imaginary characters from media she recognized that she believed could relate to her best regarding the situations in question. Why this happened, even she didn't really know. But regardless, she was not afraid to mentally admit that these situations had always proven plenty helpful more than once in the past. But even so, she wasn't about to let this information go any further then herself, her parents, or Daniel just yet.

At that moment, the figure standing in the center of the trio chuckled, revealing herself to be responsible for the first of the three voices Diana had heard in her head. The imaginary girl in question, a fair skinned beauty who looked to be about either still a teenager or her early 20s, was clearly the most human-like of the trio. She was dressed in blue-gray sweatpants, sandals that reached all the way up to her ankles, and what looked like a white and lavender hoodie. The hood was lowered behind the girl's head, allowing Diana to catch sight of a small top portion of what looked like a shirt made from a fishnet-like material underneath the jacket, as well as a headband around her neck with a metal plate on the front portion inscribed with a very foreign looking symbol. Attached to her right hip and around the upper area of her right thigh was a small kit that looked as if it could contain a walkie-talkie. Incidentally, the exact same area touched by the strap connecting the packet to her leg was what looked like a small series of white bandages coiled around the girl's thigh. The girl's lowered hood also allowed Diana to get a good look at her hair, which was mostly a very dark indigo aside from a bright horizontal light blue streak across the center of her bangs.

However, the one feature that allowed Diana to easily recognize the girl without any doubt was her eyes. They were a very opaque and milky white in color, with the exception of small, just barely noticeable, light violet rings around the outermost areas of her eyes. Diana smiled, for she could easily tell from the distinctive eye color combined with the distinctive hair color and outfit that this particular member of her current mental pep talk squad was Hinata Hyuga from the Naruto franchise; and in her Shippuden style no less.

Hinata chuckled, her pale eyes very noticeably bright considering how unbelievably shy she'd been during the time in her story in which she'd been consistently drawn in the style Diana was now seeing her in. "I see you've finally managed to realize the exact nature of what's currently going on."

Diana couldn't help but let out a mental chuckle of her own. "You could definitely say that," she responded.

"It certainly took you long enough," the imaginary girl standing to Hinata's right commented dryly.

Diana took a close look at the girl in question. This girl, like Hinata, had an outfit that came with a hood. The girl lifted her hands and lowered her hood, incidentally allowing her dark blue cloak to open sufficiently enough to allow Diana to get a good look at the rest of her outfit and body. Without the concealment of the cloak, Diana could easily see that the girl was wearing a long-sleeved black leotard underneath, with a light gold colored belt around her waist with a string of rubies attached to it on the front, and a pair of slipper-like slip on shoes that were the exact same color as the cloak on her feet. The rubies on the belt, as well as a similar pendant allowing for the formation of the hood on her cloak and two others on the back of her gloves, had what looked like a raven's head embossed on them. Furthermore, Diana could also notice how, despite looking believably enough like a human in shape, there were also elements of her appearance that hinted at a more nonhuman nature. For starters, the girl's skin was a very pale gray. Her hair was a dark lilac purple. Her eyes, much like her hair, were also purple, but in a shade more reminiscent of the color violet than of lilac. These elements, combined with the small, red, diamond-shaped gem stone on the center of her forehead, allowed her to be instantly recognizable to Diana as the character Raven, from Teen Titans.

Diana chuckled, and shook her head. "Nice to see you to Raven."

Raven snorted, but not without a slight gleam of happiness showing in her eyes.

The figure standing to Hinata's left chuckled. "Talkative as ever I see."

Diana examined the third figure. Unlike Hinata and Raven, this character was definitely not a human. Rather, as even an idiot could tell from one look at her, she was a dragoness. And one look at the dragoness's black scales, pinkish-red underbelly and wing membranes, emerald green eyes, impressive bony white horns and claws, and her shiny metallic neck collar, foreleg and tail bracelets, and tail barb sheath allowed Diana to instantly recognize her as Cynder from the Legend of Spyro video game saga.

The dragoness chuckled, and looked over towards the Konoha kunoichi and DC half demoness superhero standing to her right. "I do believe we'd best not take too long with our little talk with her today."

"Indeed," said Hinata, who nodded her head up and down. "Wouldn't want Diana to be late for class."

"Ain't that the truth?" Raven asked dryly, folding her arms across her chest and directing her attention towards Diana. Hinata and Cynder followed her gaze. "So?" said Raven. "Another one of those days, huh?"

Diana blushed, and hung her head. "That obvious huh?"

"Well for starters," said Cynder, "we're technically visual manifestations of your own thoughts and other mental elements. I'd daresay that being in your mind would allow us to have a pretty good idea about what's going on with you in there."

"Indeed," said Hinata. "Not to mention," the kunoichi continued with a lifted left index finger, "this has most certainly not been the first time we've manifested in your mind to give you a pep talk on the matter of your romantic dilemma, let alone the first time any character you feel yourself capable of identifying with in this kind of regard either."

"No kidding," Raven agreed. The sorceress looked back at Diana. "Really Diana, did you truly expect us to be surprised anymore about the reasons behind these pep talks?"

Diana chuckled sheepishly. "Well, when you put it that way . . ."

The three imaginary figures nodded their heads sagely with their eyes closed, clearly not at all surprised that Diana had agreed with them. They looked back at her, eyes opened and clearly indicative of 'serious mode'.

"Look Diana," said Raven. "I get it that you're afraid and insecure about your chances with Daniel, especially with that Trigon-spawned rival to contend with."

"You think?"

"But even so," said Hinata, clearly not at all phased by Diana's comment. "You can't keep shrinking away on the sidelines." The kunoichi nodded her head. "Believe me Diana, as a figment of your conscience, I know perfectly well that I am telling the truth, and so are Raven and Cynder."

Cynder nodded in agreement. "You are better than you think you are," said the dragoness. "You've known Daniel for practically your entire life. There's no one who could possibly be _more_ worthy of loving and being loved by him than you."

"You can say that again," Raven agreed. She turned her own gaze back to Diana. "And besides, you know perfectly well that Daniel is not at all comfortable with being in Charlotte's presence. He's showcased his discomfort around her clear as day often enough even during the times that she still clearly had no interest in him. Honestly, do you really think there's even the slightest chance that he'd _ever_ be even remotely attracted to someone like _her_?"

Diana chuckled, feeling very warm and flattered by the admittedly somewhat self-serving flattery. "He's never shown any signs of being romantically attracted to me either."

"That doesn't mean he hasn't," said Hinata. She nodded her head. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's shown any signs that you just were either not around to see or likewise failed to notice. Believe me, I'd know." She chuckled. "After all, not only did it take him Kami knows how many years to even understand what I was talking about when I'd confessed my love to him during Pain's attack, but I myself didn't even realize when he'd finally come to understand what romantic love is and realize that he himself felt the same way towards me until he straight out told me himself to my face."

Diana allowed another sheepish chuckle to escape. "True enough I suppose." She hung her head again. "But even so, it's not that simple. . ."

"Of course it's not," said Raven. She nodded her head. "The truly worthwhile stuff rarely ever is."

Cynder nodded her own head in agreement. "The best things in life never come easy."

"Indeed," said Hinata. "Sometimes you have to open yourself up to pain in order to truly gain." She nodded her head. "And as proven time and time again by my dear Naruto kun, hard work truly does pay off in the end, especially if you never go back on your word."

"True," Diana admitted. "But that doesn't change the fact that Charlotte's still in the way . . ."

"I don't see why that should stop you." Raven folded her arms across her chest. "After all, as you know quite well, the three of us had rivals of our own to contend with for our respective boys' hearts; and that didn't stop either of us from winning against those rivals and having our happy endings with our boys."

"Indeed, true Raven san," Hinata agreed. The kunoichi chuckled. "After all, as strong Naruto kun's apparent crush on Sakura san seemed to be, I'm the one in the end who both married him and got to have _two_ children with him. Not to mention, turns out, he was never actually in love with Sakura at all. He just thought he was because he viewed her as a prize to be won as per yet another part of his rivalry with Sasuke."

"Indeed," Raven agreed. "Me? I may not have gotten with Beast Boy romantically in the original first 5 seasons to air on TV, but the live action movies and the brand-new seasons that came along with that Netflix revival sure as Hell did."

"Don't forget your incarnations in Young Justice," said Hinata.

"That to," Raven admitted. "And even without that, he and I were already strongly preferred by most fans compared to him and Terra. The two of us as a couple were so strongly preferred, in fact, that we even managed to become outright endgame canon in the comics." Then her face darkened into a glare. "At least . . . that is . . . until that God awful New 52."

"Which was later rectified by DC Rebirth if I do remember correctly," said Cynder.

"True enough," Raven admitted.

"Pity that your friends Robin and Starfire only got and stayed canonized in the Teen Titans and Young Justice TV show canons," said Hinata.

Raven snorted. "No kidding." She folded her arms across her chest. "Him and Batgirl? So overrated."

Cynder chuckled, and then looked back at Diana. "And as for me," the dragoness began, "long before my creation, Spyro had already gotten a chance at romance with a dragoness named Ember; but not only did he never return her feelings and view her as an annoying and abhorrent admirer, but she also ended up moving on from him with an armadillo named Bandit."

"I thought she ended up with Flame," said Hinata.

"It's a popular idea amongst the fans," said Raven. She seemed to think to herself. "Honestly, as far as I know, Flame never even met her in the games."

"The point is," Cynder continued, "in the end, I won out over Ember. For starters, she got locked out of continuity by never even being included within Legend of Spyro, I was the only female character to show an interest in Spyro whose feelings were reciprocated by him, and we were shown to survive and live happily ever after at the end of Dawn of the Dragon." She then spread her wings and reared up her head, a smile on her face. "And furthermore, between me and Ember, _who_ got to be a character in Skylanders alongside him, and as one of his friends no less? _Me_. Not Ember."

Diana sighed, and nodded her head. "That is true enough," she admitted. "But still, you guys had it easy. In all your cases, your respective rivals were all out of the picture in some way or other by the time you managed to successfully get your chances."

"That doesn't mean you have no chance at all," Hinata countered.

"Damn straight," Raven agreed.

Cynder nodded her head. "Believe me," said Cynder. "It may not seem like it to you now, but that hideous equivalent of Ember that's currently got her sights set on your Spyro has higher chances of personally meeting with and getting devoured by Malefor then _ever_ winning him over."

"True that," Raven agreed. "Believe me girl, your chance will come. And when it comes, you're gonna grab it by the horns, get your man, and _stay_ with him."

"Indeed true," said Hinata. She chuckled. "And who knows, if you're lucky, maybe she'll even end up somehow becoming a friend of yours the way Terra did for Raven and Sakura did for me."

"Don't get too optimistic there," said Raven.

"I must agree," said Cynder. "Let's let her worry about actually getting with her personal Naruto first before what fate should befall the Sakura of this equation."

Hinata chuckled once more. "If you say so."

The three figures looked back at Diana. "Well," said Cynder. "I certainly enjoyed our little talk. And I'm quite positive that my two compatriots here likewise had fun."

Hinata giggled, and Raven snorted.

"But I'm afraid now's the time we'd best return to the inner depths of your mind and back into our own worlds," Cynder continued.

In a flash, the dragoness, half demoness, and Konoha kunoichi started to become cloaked in mist and brighten in color shade as if they were about to fade away into nothingness. "Remember," they all said at once right as they were seconds away from vanishing completely. "Your chance will come, just like it did for us. And when it comes, you will win out over your rival and get your happy ending with your man, just like we did with ours." Mere seconds after these final words were spoken, the three figures vanished entirely, effectively ending the mental conversation for good; at least for that moment anyway.

Diana sighed, and checked her watch. Miraculously, despite how long the conversation had seemed, only 3 minutes had passed, and she still had plenty of time to get to her first class for the day. She smiled, now feeling confident and happy once more. She briefly turned around to face the immediate direction she needed to follow to reach her first class. Then she paused, smiled, and turned to head the opposite direction. "Perhaps I should find Daniel or Susan first so that we can enter together." Her smile widened. "Who knows," she then thought to herself. "Maybe we'll even manage to get the chance to walk together with another member of the club that we could end up developing a mutual friendship with."

. . . . .

Daniel Taymor was leaning against the lockers in the area where his own locker was, thinking to himself and trying to decide how to spend the remaining time between the current moment and when his first class began. He'd already gotten all his needed supplies sorted out and ready, and he had nothing else that he absolutely needed to get done in the somewhat considerable time that remained. "What am I going to do?"

He sighed, and checked his watch, grumbling as he once again noticed how much time was left before he absolutely had to go off to the location of his first class. He lowered his right arm, leaned his head back against the locker behind him, and sighed in a half relaxed and half irritated tone. For what seemed like an hour in Daniel's mind, he looked left and right down the hall he was in, completely bored out of his mind. "There's got to be something I can do."

Then Daniel had a thought, and a smile came on his face. "I could always go find Diana and see if there's anything she can think of for us to do to pass the time." In that instant, he started walking down the hall away from his lockers, and incidentally in the same direction that would lead towards his first class the quickest.

He came to a stop. He'd now thought of something else. "Now that I think about it," he thought to himself, "Diana would probably also appreciate it if we were to walk to class together alongside some of the other members of the club." He nodded to himself. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if Susan were there to walk alongside us." Then his eyes widened. "Or perhaps maybe even Susan's other friend who just happens to now be my 2nd in command in the glee club."

Daniel thought to himself, his gray eyes narrowed in concentration as he thought carefully about the boy in question. "What was his name? What was his name?" he thought to himself. Then it finally reached him. "Calvin!" he thought. "That's right! Calvin! That's his name!"

He came to a stop. "That's it," he thought to himself. "I'm gonna find him, and see if I can properly start getting to know him right now." His smile widened. "Who knows; maybe if I'm lucky, we'll become friends and he'll even join me, Diana, and Susan in a walk together to reach our first classes."

Daniel turned around, ready to start searching for Calvin. Then he paused, his eyes narrowed once more as he realized an important detail. "Just where should I look for him first?"

. . . . .

Calvin Martenson was humming to himself as he sorted out the supplies he currently needed from his locker and his backpack. Hobbes, naturally, was standing right next to him and watching as his master got ready for the day.

Calvin was feeling both happy with himself and confident that today would be another great day. At the same time, though, he was also still somewhat wary about being in Zach's presence today after the stunt the other boy had tried to pull the previous day. But nonetheless, as Calvin thought to himself, today was a new day.

"Good morning punk."

Calvin paused, eyes narrowed as he recognized the voice that had just spoken from his right. He turned his head and looked past his still open locker door, glare on his face. Hobbes looked in the same direction, likewise looking not at all pleased with what he saw. Standing right there by the Autistic boy and his therapy dog, were none other than John Lipoff and Miles Surette, their two least favorite McKinley High Titan linebackers.

Miles couldn't help but let a smug grin come on his face at the sight of the apparent annoyance on Calvin and Hobbes' faces. "Nice to see you to."

Calvin sighed. "You guys again?"

Miles chuckled. "You bet it's us again."

"What he said," John agreed.

Calvin grumbled, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Should have seen this coming," he mumbled to himself. He looked back at Miles and John, closing his locker door in the process. "Alright. What do you two want this time? If it's another fight you want, then you're really wasting your time considering how very much unlikely you still are to beat me after all the other fights we've been through."

"We don't want to fight you this time," said Miles. A wolf-like grin came on his face. "At least . . . not yet."

Calvin raised his eyebrow, and Hobbes snarled in suspicion. "Yet?" Calvin asked. "What do you mean yet?"

Miles chuckled. "According to what he heard a bunch of those airhead worshipers of the basketball team captain saying not too long ago, you apparently tore that blowhard lothario a serious new one."

The linebacker gave Calvin a thumbs-up. "And for that matter, kudos to you for preventing Mr. Skinner from raping Susan. I will admit, we may be rivals in her regard, but I sure as heck ain't gonna try to force myself on her like that overrated casanova was apparently planning. I'm respectful like that."

Calvin snorted, but not without mentally agreeing with the other boy.

"That being said," Miles continued.

"Here it comes," said John.

"I might be willing now to make you a deal."

"Totally called it," John grumbled. In truth, he himself was more than a little annoyed with Miles's insistence on continuing his personal quest as well as his equally strong insistence on always getting him involved alongside him. Quite frankly, John himself was starting to get sick of Miles' constant failures, dealing with Miles's very real temper that tended to get very easily triggered during these times, and of the painful ass kickings that tended to ensue at his and Miles's expense.

Calvin raised his eyebrow. "A deal?"

Miles nodded. "A deal."

Calvin thought to himself. "I'm listening."

Miles chuckled, and pointed his finger back behind him at nothing in particular. "Here's this; I get Susan, and in exchange," he pointed at Calvin, "you serve as my bouncer to keep Zach and any other dumb turds who get the crazy idea in their heads of trying to force themselves on her or similarly steal her away."

Miles nodded his head as if giving himself yet more assurance on how well thought out he believed his idea to be. "I mean, clearly, you've got some serious skill if you can take out Zach freaking Skinner with a single wallop to the head. If you can do that, I daresay the odds could yet be pretty dang high in your favor if you got into an actual full-on fight with him." He looked back at Calvin. "And if you did fight him and _won_ , then that would be seriously good news. After all, as far as I know, if you were to defeat him in a fight, then you'd be basically the only guy I know of here who'd have _ever_ managed to defeat that sucker. Believe me, we all know just how many boys in this school he's fought and defeated. Hell, I myself fought him once on a dare last year, and he beat me in literally 10 seconds flat. And if you turn out to be the one boy in this student body who can actually _beat_ him, then it's really no wonder the other guys and I have never been able to defeat you."

Miles folded his arms across his chest. "Suffice it to say, I daresay it would be quite beneficial for both of us if you were to agree to this little deal I'm offering."

Calvin thought to himself. Truth be told, he did see some appeal in about one half of the deal. After all, he certainly wasn't all that keen at all on Zach potentially continuing to make himself a nuisance in Susan's regard the way he had the previous day, and also felt that a fight between him and Zach (if it ever came to that) would potentially be a good proper challenge for him after all the fights that occurred nowadays between him and virtually every other jock he ended up having to fight had become so easy, swift, and rather boring. Even Hobbes seemed to be nodding his head up and down with a canine 'he's actually got a pretty good point there' look on his face. But then Calvin thought once again about what he'd have to let Miles have in exchange, and his decision was made in a heartbeat.

"While I do appreciate having a common enemy with you in regards to Mr. Skinner," Calvin began. He folded his arms across his chest. "But I'm afraid I'm gonna have to say no to letting you having Susan that easily."

Miles's eyes narrowed and his shoulders slumped. John closed his eyes and nodded his head in a resigned manner.

Miles took a deep breath, and then exhaled, clearly fighting to keep himself from losing his temper. "Must. You. Be. So. Difficult?" he asked.

Calvin chuckled, much to Miles's consternation. "Sorry pal," he responded, hardly sounding even the slightest bit sorry, "but regardless of current relationship status, Susan's my girl." He folded his arms across his chest once more. "And you can't have her."

Miles snarled briefly, then took another deep breath, exhaling heavily with closed eyes. He opened his eyes. "Well if that's the way you want it." He took on a clear fighting stance. "Plan B then."

"Here we go," John grumbled.

"Well this oughta be finished quickly," Calvin muttered as he got into a fighting stance of his own. Hobbes, meanwhile, crouched as if preparing to pounce while John took on a fighting stance of his own that was very similar to the one taken up by Miles.

"Back off."

Caught off guard, the four would-be combatants looked in the direction the voice had come from in time to see none other than Daniel Taymor standing nearby with an annoyed look on his face, gray eyes narrowed in a threatening glare, and his fists clenched.

Miles slumped. "Oh, for crying out loud," he grumbled.

"I said back off."

"Or what?" asked John. The black boy folded his arms across his chest. "You'll go crying foul to Mr. Schuester? Please, he doesn't have the spine for bringing down the hammer on us, and you know it."

"Well good thing he's not the one I'd be blowing the whistle to on you guys."

Miles raised his eyebrow. "Well who else would you be threatening to blow the whistle on us to?" He pointed his finger at Calvin. "You and that dweeb are in the same club directed by him." Calvin and Hobbes narrowed their eyes upon hearing Miles call Calvin a dweeb, but otherwise didn't react.

Daniel chuckled, and folded his own arms across his chest. "You do remember how Coach Bieste put you on her watch list last Friday after you came to practice late with pepper spray residue near your eyes."

"Oh, for the love of God," Miles growled. "It's not _our_ fault that that loser in the science club brought pepper spray with him last week!"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Daniel said noncommittally. He pointed at the two linebackers, serious look once more on his face. "But nonetheless, you have this entire week to prove yourself worthy of being taken off the watch list and still being allowed to remain on the team. And unless you put a stop to this current bit of tenseness with my newly appointed 2nd in command in the glee club and get as far away from this current area as possible within the next few seconds, I will be more than willing to tell Coach Bieste and guarantee your expulsion from the Titans."

 _That_ got the linebackers' attention. "You wouldn't," said Miles.

Daniel grinned like a wolf. "Would I?" he asked.

Miles and John gulped, looked each other in the face nervously, and then promptly made their decision.

Miles turned to face Calvin, glare back on his face. "You got lucky this time pal," he growled, pointing his finger at the autistic boy for good measure. "But this ain't over. As soon as this week's over and John and I are off Coach Beiste's watch list, we'll be back for more."

Calvin chuckled. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

"Good." Miles turned his head back to John. "Let's go."

John did not need to be told twice, and the two linebackers made their way back down the hall the way they'd come.

Calvin turned his head to face Daniel. "I could have handled them," he said.

Daniel chuckled. "I know." He looked at Calvin. "That's what makes me so nice."

Calvin thought to himself. "True enough." He looked back at Daniel. "And, for that matter, thank you."

"You're welcome." Daniel extended his right hand. "Happy to have helped."

"Indeed." Calvin directed an awkward sidelong glance, clearly confused.

Daniel noticed. "Is something wrong?"

Calvin was briefly caught off guard by the question. "Well," he began. "I don't know; maybe there is. Maybe there isn't?"

"Do clarify."

Calvin took a deep breath, and then exhaled. Hobbes, meanwhile, remained standing where he was, ready to react in the appropriate fashion if necessary. Calvin looked up to face Daniel.

"Why?"

Daniel raised his eyebrow. "Why what?"

"Why now?" Calvin clarified. He sighed. "Look, don't get me wrong. I appreciate you getting those two punks to leave me alone, and likewise appreciate your efforts at making friends with me. But still . . ." He shook his head side to side. "You had at least two years before now. You barely know me, and I barely know you." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And the fact that you're now suddenly getting involved in my fights and trying to befriend me a mere two days after the beginning of the current school year? Color me suspicious, but something's not adding up here."

Daniel sighed, and nodded his head. Calvin did have a point. "Look," said the quarterback. "I get it, I had plenty of time before now to make an effort at befriending you; and it is indeed very odd that I should start making such an effort now under such admittedly quite short notice."

"You think?"

"But nonetheless," Daniel continued, "now's as good a time as any. Better late than never you know?" He smiled. "Besides," he placed his hands on his hips. "As of yesterday, and as I just informed two of the more irritating linebackers on the football team, you are my 2nd in command in the glee club." He extended out his hand. "I daresay it would be quite wise for us to get to know each other a little better."

Calvin thought to himself. "I suppose you have a point there," he admitted. He tentatively allowed himself to shake hands with Daniel. "I guess it's worth giving a shot."

"Perfect," said Daniel. He ended the handshake, chuckling happily. "I'm sure this will be a great friendship already."

Calvin chuckled halfheartedly. "Well you're certainly optimistic this morning."

Daniel chuckled again. "In circumstances like these, how could I not be?" He placed his hands on the back of his head, relaxing in the iconic way that Sora from the Kingdom Hearts games tended to do. "I mean hey, if this works out as well as I hope, I'll now officially have 3 good friends period, let alone in the glee club, instead of 2." His smile widened. "Heck, considering how that one friend of yours named Susan is an especially good friend of my own close friend Diana, I wouldn't be at all heartbroken if she managed to become a good friend of mine as well."

Calvin raised his eyebrow. "Define. Friend."

Daniel chuckled, and impulsively placed a hand on Calvin's shoulder. Calvin and Hobbes raised their eyebrows, but otherwise didn't react. "Don't worry Calvin," said Daniel. "Susan's all yours. I'm not _that_ kind of guy." He nodded his head. "Besides," he said as he lifted his head once more. "I've got my sights on someone else anyway."

Calvin thought to himself. Then he and Hobbes looked each other in the eyes. Then they both nodded in assent. "Well in that case," Calvin began. He looked back at Daniel, a relieved smile on his face. "I suppose it would be ok for you to see if Susan's willing to be your friend as well." He let a small smile come on his face. "And hey, if this does work out, it would be nice having more than just Susan and Hobbes as my friends."

Daniel chuckled. "That's good." He stretched. "Heck, I could use the extra friends to."

Calvin raised his eyebrow. "Don't you have plenty of friends already?"

"I wish," said Daniel. "Please, all those other jocks?" He blew a raspberry. "Hardly friends. The closest thing I've got to friends amongst any of the other jocks are the people on the basketball team. And really, out of all of them, Zach's the only one who's truly a person I'd call a friend. All the others are more of acquaintances where I'm concerned. And as for the people on all the other teams around here. . ."

He shook his head side to side. "Bullies. The whole lot of them. Rugby people? Bloodthirsty and rude animals. Soccer people? Brainless airheads. Baseball people? Spineless cowards that can't be bothered to care about anything beyond the tip of their baseball bats. Hockey people? Fat load of assholes. My fellow football players?" He snarled, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "If I weren't the quarterback, I'd never associate with them in the slightest."

He placed his hand back on Calvin's shoulder. "Believe me," he continued. "You and I, and potentially quite a few of the others in the glee club alongside us, have a lot more in common than you think."

Calvin thought to himself, still slightly stunned. "I suppose so," he agreed.

Daniel chuckled, and nodded his head. Then his eyes brightened, and he lifted his finger. "You know what?" he asked. "I've just got an idea."

Calvin raised his eyebrow, clearly interested. "What's your idea?"

Hobbes looked noticeably interested as well . . . for a dog.

Daniel smiled, and drew out his IPod. "Tell you what," said Daniel. "Since we've still got plenty of time to wait before class begins, I say we get our musical capabilities into gear and get into the glee club spirit early on in our partnership." His smile widened, and he looked straight at Calvin. "And I know just the song that easily applies to the both of us, and in fact for just about anyone else in this club that's truly worthy of being a member of this particular one. Rumor has it, Finn Hudson himself sang it once during a session in his Junior Year." He narrowed his eyes in determination as he continued to search for the song. "And by God, I am going to make sure that I _rock_ this performance."

Calvin raised his eyebrow. Hobbes to looked confused. "People don't typically just randomly burst out into song you know."

"Such is the beauty of glee dude," said Daniel. "You get a song in your heart, and you have just the happiness, joy, strength, and pride needed to let it out without any shame at all." He continued searching for the song he'd chosen. "And if I can pull off a performance at a time like this, then I'll _definitely_ be able to pull off a performance in front of an audience."

Calvin thought to himself. Truth be told, Daniel's logic was certainly sound in this case. "It's still a pretty weird thing to do," he persisted. "And considering the fact that I'm Autistic and you're a neurotypical, that's saying something."

Daniel chuckled. "So what?" He shook his head. "Ain't nothing wrong with being a little weird. If you can get away with a lot of weird, then I sure as Hell can get away with a little weird."

Calvin thought to himself. "Ok," he admitted. "Can't argue with that line of thinking. I certainly do have a lot more weirdness on me; ain't no denying that."

"Exactly," said Daniel. "And besides," he continued. "This is glee were talking about. And by God, I am going to let out every song my heart has to offer . . . starting with this one."

Sure enough, Daniel had finally found the song he'd had in mind to perform. And with a smile on his face, he selected it and pressed play. The performance that ensued as a result went something like this:

 _(Daniel:)  
Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong  
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong  
I've gotta be me, I've gotta be me  
(Starts walking down the hall alongside Calvin and Hobbes; his right arm is over Calvin's shoulders)_

 _What else can I be but what I am  
(Scene Break: Library)  
I want to live, not merely survive  
And I won't give up this dream of life that keeps me alive  
(Calvin lunges onto a table nearby Daniel, and roars like a lion while positioned exactly like a crouching lion)_

 _I've gotta be me, I've gotta be me  
(Calvin jumps and bucks around like a horse)_

 _The dream that I see makes me what I am  
(Calvin kicks a nearby library cart, sending it barreling right into a wall)_

 _(Scene Break: Bleachers at football field)  
That faraway prize, a world of success  
Is waiting for me if I heed the call  
I won't settle down, won't settle for less  
(Daniel and Hobbes walk down the bleachers while Calvin jumps down them one by one like a kangaroo)_

 _As long as there's a chance that I can have it all  
(Scene Break: On stage in the auditorium; Daniel is standing tall and proud at the edge of the stage, Calvin is slithering along the stage like a snake, and Hobbes is sitting on his haunches watching from the audience seats area)  
I'll go it alone, that's how it must be  
I can't be right for somebody else if I'm not right for me_

 _(Calvin rears up and hisses dramatically, before then straightening back onto his feet)  
I gotta be free, I've gotta be free  
(Calvin does a series of back flips)_

 _Daring to try, to do it or die, I've gotta be me  
(Instrumental Break; complete with Calvin pulling an EPIC round of dancing)  
That faraway prize, a world of success  
Is waiting for me if I heed the call  
I won't settle down, won't settle for less  
As long as there's a chance that I can have it all  
I'll go it alone, (Calvin roars like a T-rex while striking an appropriate pose) that's how it must be  
I can't be right for somebody else if I'm not right for me  
I gotta be free, I just gotta be free  
(Calvin and Daniel start doing a unique 'Egyptian sideways walk' style dance together)_

 _Daring to try, to do it or die  
I've gotta ... be me!_

Mere seconds after Daniel sang those final lines, he and Calvin continued their epic dancing all the way up until they finished in perfect synch with the end of the instrumentals with a dramatic leaning down and abruptly rearing right back up straight. Then Calvin abruptly leaned forward and, without _any_ warning whatsoever, let out a mighty, lion-like "ROAR!"

"AROO!" Hobbes howled in perfect synch with his roaring master.

When Calvin and Hobbes had finished their duel beastly finale call, they both looked at Daniel, who still looked quite surprised and off guard. Calvin chuckled. "Well, looks like someone got it a little hard on the ears."

Daniel snapped out of his stunned trance, and shook his head side to side. Then he glared and pointed at Calvin. "Do. Not. Do. That. Again."

Calvin chuckled, shook his head side to side, and placed his hands on his hips with a clear aura of pride around him. "And why the Hell not?"

"Because it's weird!" Daniel yelled without thinking.

Calvin chuckled. "So what? I'm already weird enough as I am even without roaring after I finish singing." He waved his hand through the air in an almost dismissive fashion. "Besides, as I'm sure you should remember perfectly well from my audition last week, I _always_ roar after every performance."

"You roar _all_ the time, period," said Daniel.

"Well then it would only make sense for me to do exactly that after I finish a singing performance. Now wouldn't it?"

Daniel was left speechless once more at this comeback. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Shishishi," Calvin chuckled. "You sure did bro."

Daniel thought to himself, and then nodded his head. "I suppose so." He extended his right hand out towards Calvin. "So," he said. "Friends?"

Calvin chuckled, grabbed onto Daniel's hand, and subjected it to an enthusiastic handshake. "Friends."

Right at that moment, clapping and cheering was heard from all the way up at the entrance to the auditorium. Upon hearing this, Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes turned their heads in that direction just in time to see none other than Diana and Susan standing there clapping.

"Bravo Calvin," said Susan. She stopped clapping, nodding her head up and down. She looked towards him, smile on her face and blue eyes agleam, and placed her hands on her hips. "I see you're making new friends already."

Calvin chuckled, and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. "You could say that." Hobbes barked twice in agreement with his master.

"True that," said Daniel as he proceeded to drape his left arm over Calvin's shoulders and then give him a playful noogie on the top of his head, chuckling in the process.

"Gah!" Calvin growled, instinctively reaching up and flailing his hands as he tried to get Daniel to cease the noogie. "Quit it!" he shouted. "I mean it buddy! Get your filthy fist off of my head!"

Susan and Diana couldn't help but laugh at the childish antics.

"Don't just stand there laughing!" Calvin yelled at the two laughing girls. He pointed his right finger at Daniel while still flailing his left hand in an attempt to claw Daniel off of him. "Get this bully's fist off my head!"

Hobbes started making his distinctive gurgling snorts that he made whenever he seemed to find something funny.

"Don't you start it to!"

After about a few minutes, Susan and Diana managed to arrive at the scene and get the whole tableau to end. And by that point, it wasn't long before they were all giving each other a group hug and laughing it all off together at once.

Little did they know, however, that they were now being watched. Standing right outside the door, staring right in their direction, was none other than Charlotte Thornton. For what seemed like an eternity to the girl in question, she stared in the direction of the four students on the stage. Then, she turned around, fists clenched, and stormed off in the direction that would lead towards her first class for the day. As of that moment, as evidenced by her clenched fists, narrowed blue eyes, and tense frowning face, she was not pleased with what she'd just seen. Not pleased at all.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! And by God I hope you enjoy this one because I am on a roll with my work here so far! To start off, I hope you enjoyed that little mental pep talk Diana got in the form of a mental guest starring of those three imaginary characters. I'll admit, this scene is probably something of a 'Big-Lipped-Alligator-Moment' but even so, when I first got the idea in my head, I just thought it was so awesome that i couldn't help BUT include it. And besides, for those of you who are familiar with Naruto, Teen Titans, or Legend of Spyro, you've gotta admit, Diana certainly can relate to Hinata, Raven, and Cynder in regards to romantic issues in dealing with a rival. On another note, I also very much hope you enjoyed the scenes involving Calvin and Daniel. Yep, as of this chapter, these two are well on the way to reaching the almost brother-like friendship they had for the majority of GWAF (and it is glorious already!). And that being said, quick bit of trivia. Originally, I was planning for Daniel to make his entry by frying pan-ning Miles and John unconscious with a frying pan the way Calvin did to Zack in the previous chapter. But in the end, I decided that would be to repetitive. And so you got the different final product presented in this chapter. And that being said, I also hope you all enjoyed the song performance made in this chapter as well. Believe me, I'm STILL having fun writing the song performances here and I sure as Hell hope you're enjoying reading them ^_^. Well, on that note, here's me, eagerly hoping you read, enjoyed, and review this new chapter. Remember, two reviews for this chapter, MINIMUM, are required in order for me to allow you the joy of reading the newest chapter upon its completion. Till then, see ya'll later!**

 **Coming up Next: Daniel receives word from a couple 2nd hand sources about some unsettling news involving Zach. Meanwhile, in the recess session of Glee club for the day, the glee club's resident head cheerio and basketball captain take their turns at fulfilling the week's assignment.**


	7. Fire and Ice

**Hey everybody! Boy I hope you're all ready for yet more Glee-ful amazingness, because here I finally am with a new chapter! In this new chapter, Daniel becomes aware of some very unsettling news about Zack. And in the recess session of glee club that follows, McKinley High's current resident bad boy and bad girl do their part in fulfilling the week's assignment. Sound good? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: Just to remind you all, I do not own Glee or any of the songs featured in this chapter (or story, period). Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 7:**

 **Fire and Ice**

"Sure is nice to have new friends now, isn't it?"

Calvin chuckled, and turned his head to direct a smile at Susan. "You betcha."

Hobbes snarled in agreement.

Susan chuckled back, shaking her dark hair side to side. "Glad to hear it."

Diana and Daniel chuckled as well. At that very moment, the four newly established friends were walking together side by side through the hall alongside Hobbes, who likewise seemed to be in a good mood.

Diana sighed in content, draping her arms over the shoulders of Susan and Daniel. "I must admit," she said when Susan and Daniel turned their heads, "it sure is nice to have new friends."

Calvin chuckled. "Hey," he said. "My pleasure."

Daniel chuckled, and then sighed in content. "I will admit," he said, "I'm quite glad indeed with this development." He looked over at Calvin and Susan. "It will be nice to finally get to know you two better after all this time." His smile widened. "And considering how good of a friend you are to Diana, I'm surprised I didn't become a friend of yours sooner Susan."

"Hey it's fine," said Susan. She nodded her head. "I don't mind the wait. And hey," she pointed at Diana. "Any friend of hers is a friend of mine. So you were somewhat a friend of mine already."

"Well said," said Calvin.

Daniel chuckled. "That's good to hear." He stared ahead. "Who knows, at this rate, I'm sure that all the other members of this club . . . besides Charlotte anyway . . . will become friends of ours in no time."

"That's certainly a comforting sentiment; that's for sure," Calvin admitted.

"Indeed," Daniel agreed. He rubbed his left hand through his hair. "Heck, perhaps Diana and I could go ahead and see if we could get Zack added into the picture today."

At the sound of this suggestion, Calvin and Susan noticeably faltered and came to a stop. Diana and Daniel managed to proceed a dozen steps ahead before they noticed. They turned around to face Calvin and Susan, concerned.

"Is there a problem?" Daniel asked.

Calvin and Susan looked each other in the eyes. Then they looked at Hobbes, who gave out a low snarl before nodding his head up and down. Calvin and Susan looked back at Daniel and Diana and opened their mouths to speak.

"You bet there's a problem."

Caught off guard by the unexpected voice, the four Juniors and the dog looked in the direction from which it had come from in time to see none other than Cody and Raj standing not too far behind Daniel and Diana. And from the looks on their faces, they did not look happy. The two Asian Americans came to a stop, shook their heads side to side in unison, and glared at Daniel.

"The basketball team captain," Cody said flatly. "He is your best friend correct?"

For a brief moment, Daniel was speechless from the unexpected question. "Um . . . yes."

"Well your best friend, the basketball captain, is an idiot and a nuisance," said Raj.

"Yeah; no shit," Cody grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah," said Diana. "What did he do?"

Cody and Raj raised their eyebrows, and then looked at each other. "Do you want to tell him?" Cody asked Raj. "Or should I?"

"Just get it over with," said Raj.

Cody nodded, and looked back at Daniel. "I don't know how that dumbass even got Bailey's number," the Korean American began. "And neither does Raj, or even Bailey herself. But tell him this." He leaned forward. "He needs to lose it."

Calvin and Susan raised their eyebrows. Diana and Daniel, likewise, looked confused as well. "Why?" they all asked.

"Because for the entirety of the past afternoon and evening," Raj began. "And at least three times this morning, he has been texting her nonstop with some less than helpful advice," he air quoted 'advice' as he said the word, "about how she could handle the current drama between her, Cody, and I."

"That's one way to put it," Cody hissed. "You want to know what he suggested? He suggested that she just date both of us at once and engage in a threesome! Seriously! A freaking threesome! Do you have any idea how disgusting that sounds?"

"Not to mention unhelpful," said Raj. "I mean seriously; was he not paying attention to our introductions yesterday? We're trying to properly resolve our drama with as little drama possible and to allow for one of us to be happy with Bailey while the other still retains some level of happiness. How is a 24/7 threesome between us supposed to help us achieve that?"

"And that's not the whole problem," Cody added." Honestly, there wouldn't be anywhere near as big of a problem with all this if he'd just had the sense to back off the 1st time Bailey turned down his asinine suggestion. But _no_ , he just had to keep on insisting on it and asking her over and over again if she'd changed her mind."

"And not only that, but even if were to so much as _consider_ the idea worth trying, he's being even more of an ass by insisting that we up and do it _now_ , giving us zero time to think it over and properly weigh our options." Raj shook his head side to side. "Seriously dude, whatever it is about him that made him worthy of being your best friend," he looked back at Daniel. "I'm not seeing it."

"You think _that's_ bad?"

The six gathered gleeks all looked in the direction this new voice had come from in time to see a very annoyed Dunlap standing nearby and seemingly helping to escort Naomi, who appeared to be in pain. The albino boy snarled, his red eyes agleam with anger. "That nasty little turd slathered oil all over the floor of the easternmost hallway. I arrived in time to catch him standing at the opposite end chuckling while Naomi was lying flat on her face at the entrance and groaning in pain." He gritted his teeth, damn near growling at the memory. "I swear, if it hadn't been for all the oil, I would have run right down the hall and beaten his disgusting face in."

"It's fine," Naomi managed to grumble. She winced, tightened her right hand's grip on her cane, and gave Dunlap a reassuring pat on his left shoulder with her left hand. "Honestly Dunlap, it's ok."

"No it's not," said Dunlap. He growled, and clenched his left fist. "Honestly Naomi, that kind of mean spirited and insensitive jerkassery? That should have come to a stop last year. And believe me, after what happened at that party last year, the last thing we need is for some other bully to subject you the torture all over again."

As this happened, the five juniors and the single senior gaped in stunned speechlessness at the two sophomores. Neither of them knew yet the full nature of what the albino boy and the ginger-haired blind girl were talking about regarding her past. They did, however, understand perfectly well that Naomi had been subjected to a mean-spirited prank that was especially cruel considering her condition and that Zack Skinner was the apparent guilty party responsible. But while Cody, Raj, Calvin, and Susan looked far more angry then shocked, and Hobbes even had an almost literally blood thirsty snarl on his face, Daniel and Diana were quite clearly stunned by what they were hearing.

"What the Devil?" Diana thought to herself. "Is this seriously Zach they're talking about?"

"This can't be true," Daniel thought to himself. "Zach? That's impossible. He'd never do something like this. Never!"

At that moment, the attention of the gathered gleeks was attracted by what sounded like Darren whispering encouragement and words of comfort to what sounded like a whimpering and blubbering Amber. They all turned their heads just in time to see that the source of the noise was exactly what it sounded like.

Darren was walking along towards Naomi and Dunlap from behind, a whimpering and quivering Amber walking alongside him with her head lying against his shoulder as she blubbered and sobbed and had her arms wrapped around him as he draped his right arm over her shoulders and whispered words to cheer her up and assure her that things would be alright. Even with his yellow contacts, it was clear from the look in his eyes that Darren truly felt bad about whatever it was that had gotten Amber into her current state and genuinely hoped to get her to feel better.

As the other gleeks already in the area gaped in shock at the scene before them, Darren noticed and came to a stop. Amber tensed up upon coming to a stop, and then lifted her head away from Darren, revealing her tear stained and frightened face. She quivered, her blonde hair dangling down the sides of her head like dead weight. "Huh . . . huh . . . high . . . guys," she managed to say.

For what seemed like an eternity, the other eight gleeks were speechless at just how badly Amber seemed to have been affected by whatever had gotten her into her current state. "What . . . the . . . Hell . . . happened . . . to . . . you?" Diana managed to sputter out, completely stunned and horrified, yet also concerned.

Darren's eyes narrowed, he growled, and he clenched his left fist. "What happened?" he snarled. He pointed at Daniel. "That basketball bastard who calls himself that boy's best friend happened! That's what!"

"Not you to!" Dunlap groaned.

"To?!" Darren snapped. "What do you mean to . . .?"

The redhead boy's yellow eyes narrowed. He had put two and two together . . . and gotten four. "All that oil on the floor of the easternmost hallway," he spat. "That was his doing?"

Dunlap and Naomi nodded their heads, the ginger haired girl wincing in pain immediately afterward. "All the evidence so far points that way," said Dunlap.

Darren growled. "Son of a bitch!" He face-palmed. "Man; I thought Amber and Naomi's troubles were over."

"What happened?" Susan asked.

Darren sighed, and looked over at the brunette girl. "I caught him getting all up in her business and acting as if he were going to go all sexual predator on her or something. And get this." He spread his hands out to his sides, a mixture of irritation and rage on his face. "After I got between them and told him to get the Hell away, he acted as if I were in the wrong and told me to lighten up and grow a sense of humor! Seriously! What kind of depraved mind must he have to treat that kind of behavior like a joke!? Honestly!"

The other eight gleeks had myriad expressions on their faces as they heard all this. Dunlap, Cody, and Raj looked angry. Naomi had a pained look of sympathy on her face. Daniel and Diana were still gaping uncomprehendingly at Darren and Amber in stunned disbelief. However, Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes looked downright fit to explode. They were _that_ angry at the news.

Calvin snarled. "I should have guessed that he'd be willing to try his little game on some other unlucky girl after his failure yesterday," the autistic boy growled.

Daniel and Diana directed a confused look towards Calvin. "What's this about?" Daniel asked.

Calvin and Susan glared in the male and female leads' direction. "Your _friend_ ," Susan grumbled, air quoting 'friend', "had a bunch of those airheads that worship him gang up on me and try to help him get me added to his list of conquests." She pointed at Calvin. "To make a long story short, if Calvin here hadn't intervened when he did, I'd have officially been that bastard's very first rape victim."

"No bloody kidding," Calvin growled. Hobbes snarled in apparent agreement. Calvin looked back at the two main leads of the glee club. "Believe me, I was there long enough to get the full picture. And believe me, that so called best friend of yours? He would not, and I mean _would not_ , take no for an answer. I had to beat him unconscious with a frying pan twice to get him off her tail. And don't get me started on all those wishy-washy sluts that were there trying to help him."

Diana had a look of disgust on her face. Clearly, she trusted Susan enough to be convinced that she and the others were telling the truth. Daniel, however, still had a wide-eyed look of speechless shock on his own face. "This can't be," he thought to himself in disbelief. "This has to be some kind of joke! It must be! Zack would never do anything like this!" Then he gulped, and nervously thought to himself as an unpleasant possibility reached his mind. "Would he?"

"Well I'll admit," said Cody, "after hearing all that, what he did to irritate Bailey yesterday and this morning certainly does look tame now."

"Not to mention what he did to _us_ ," Raj added.

The other gleeks all snapped their heads to look at the two Asian Americans. "What did he do to you?!" they all asked.

The duo seemed just about to reply when they all heard Bailey's voice say, "I'll tell you what he did."

The 10 gathered gleeks looked in the direction Bailey's voice had come from in time to see her walking down the hall from right behind the four sophomores, shaking her head side to side and rolling her eyes in annoyance. "They told me about this yesterday after we left the choir room following the afterschool glee club session."

The African American girl came to a stop in between the two Asian Americans and pointed at Bailey. "The reason he was wearing a different pair of glasses during the afterschool session then he was during the recess session? The recess pair got flushed down the toilet during lunch. Courtesy of our mutual _friend_ Zack Skinner." She pointed at Raj. "And his change of outfit yesterday?"

She shook her head side to side, her eyes closed as if she were trying to avoid losing her temper. "Turns out, the little trog flooded his sneakers with soda while Raj was in the midst of his gym glass _and_ applied a very generous coating of fresh red, white, and blue paint on the seat of his assigned desk in the class that followed."

The eight gleeks present who hadn't been aware of this matter gaped at the trio. They had no words to say that could possibly convey how surprised they were. Then Bailey directed a glare towards Daniel and pointed at him in an almost accusatory fashion. "You there, quarterback!" The other gleeks unconsciously directed their own gazes at Daniel as well. "What do you have to say for yourself to explain your so called best friend's behavior?"

For what seemed like an eternity, Daniel seemed to struggle to think of something to say. He eventually spread out his hands helplessly. "I . . . I don't know," he shakily admitted. He shook his head side to side. "Honestly . . . he's never acted like this before." He hung his head. "At least . . . I don't think he has."

"Some friend you are," Cody grumbled.

"Yeah," said Raj. "If you can't pay enough attention to your friend from before joining this club to determine whether or not he's truly acted this way before or not, how are we supposed to believe you'll be a good friend or fellow glee club member to the rest of us?"

"Here, here," Dunlap and Darren growled in unison, their red and yellow eyes narrowed dangerously and their teeth gritted into feral snarls. Naomi and Amber, meanwhile, merely gulped and nodded their heads up and down in apparent agreement.

"I have to agree," said Susan. She sighed, and shook her head side to side. "Look Diana, I know Daniel's an especially good friend of yours, and I may be your other best friend in this equation, but how can we know for certain that you guys can properly handle things in the glee club when you've also associated with a person like Zach who's now so clearly proven himself unworthy of our trust without you even realizing?"

"Yeah?" Calvin hissed. "How do we know we can trust you as our leaders, or even as friends, when you're also apparently close friends with a monster like him?"

Diana and Daniel looked each other in the eyes, now clearly looking both surprised at Zack's apparent feats of nasty behavior and nervous about their seemingly about to be quite shaky status with the rest of the glee club members. Daniel sighed, and looked back at the two deputy leads. "Look guys," he said. "I know it looks bad right now; but trust me, I'm sure there's a logical explanation behind this . . ."

"There's a world of difference between logical and acceptable," Susan interrupted. She folded her arms across her chest, her eyes now narrowed in a disapproving glare. "And regardless of how much of a nice guy he's made himself out to be towards you and Diana, his recent behavior against the rest of us is quite simply not acceptable."

"I'm not saying it is," said Daniel. He sighed. "Look, I'll talk with him later today and see if I can work things out." He looked around at every single one of the 9 gleeks, plus the German Shepherd, that were even now directing suspicion filled glares at him and Diana. "Look guys, I get it. I know how suspicious this looks and how badly his behavior reflects on me and Diana for being friends with him. But really guys, I'm not like all the other jocks you've encounter around here. I'm not a bully. I want us all to be friends. Honest I do." He placed his hand on Diana's right shoulder. "And even if I end up truly worthy of your distrust, then at least don't just brush Diana under the same heap. She's nothing like the cheer leaders or any of the other arrogant and stuck up bullying witches around here. She's nicer than that. She's kinder than that. She's better than that." He pointed at Susan. "She can vouch for that. She was a close friend of Diana's long before Diana ever even _met_ Zach. If you can't trust my judgment on Diana, then at least trust hers."

The two deputy leads and the seven 'subordinate' gleeks, plus Hobbes, thought to themselves, and then nodded their heads up and down in unison with their eyes closed in a clear 'fair enough' gesture. "Sounds reasonable," said Calvin. Then his eyes narrowed once more, and he pointed at Daniel. "But even so, there's still one simple fact in all this that remains unchanged. Something still needs to be done about unsavory friend of yours."

"Indeed," Susan agreed. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in a silent snarl. "As much of a friend he's been to you and Diana, his recent actions against the rest of us are things that we simply cannot stand for, and I doubt Mr. Schuester would be all that pleased with him either if he were to find out."

"I understand."

Daniel nodded his head up and down, his eyes closed in agreement. He looked back at the two deputy leads. "Trust me, I'll get to the bottom of this and figure something out to get this matter resolved. I know him well enough that I should be able to somehow get things smoothed over before they get worse."

"You sure about that?"

All the other gleeks, the two leads included, promptly directed their gaze at Calvin, who lifted his hands to forestall further comment. "Don't get me wrong," said the autistic boy. "I'm not deliberately trying to be the Devil's advocate here, and I trust you to get this all taken care of." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But even so, if you truly knew him as well as you say, would you have been anywhere near as caught off guard by all we've just told you about his actions against us? Would you have been at all surprised by the mere _idea_ of him being capable of deeds as vile and despicable as the ones he committed against us this morning? Not to mention yesterday?"

Daniel was about to comment the first response to come to mind, only to pause and think carefully. Truth be told, as much as he hated to think the worst of the boy he'd long since viewed as one of his best friends, his deputy male lead had a very real point.

The four-minute-long pause that ensued upon Daniel was all Calvin needed, and he nodded his head with his eyes closed in a clear 'I rest my case' fashion. "Think about it," he continued. He opened his eyes and stared straight at Daniel once more. "Do you really know him as well as you think you do?" He leaned forward. "Do you truly know him at all?"

Daniel thought to himself for about another minute; and then hung his head. "I don't know," he admitted. He looked up to face his deputy male lead once more. "I thought I did." He shook his head. "But now? Now I'm honestly not so sure anymore that I do."

. . . . .

Several hours or so later, Daniel still had this very real question on his mind. In fact, he was hardly even paying attention to what was going on around him as he sat quietly upon his seat in the choir room, staring blankly at empty air and seemingly quite withdrawn into his own little world.

"How could I have allowed something like this to happen without my even realizing it?" Daniel thought to himself. He slowly shook his head side to side in a very numb fashion. "I thought Zack was better than this. Hell, I thought _I_ knew Zack better than this." He sighed. "What am I going to do?"

"Hey," he heard a voice from behind him say. "Is everything ok?"

Daniel turned his head. Zack was seated on the row directly behind the row where Daniel himself was seated alongside Diana, Calvin, and Susan. Daniel briefly paused, uncertain as to what to say. Admittedly, Zack certainly seemed genuinely concerned enough at the moment. But at the same time, Daniel now couldn't help but wonder just how much he could trust Zack after the news he'd received this morning of his best friend's less than pleasant behavior towards so many of the other gleeks; particularly since all the alleged victims were students that Daniel hoped very much to befriend.

"Hello? You in there?"

Daniel jolted back to reality and shook his head side to side. "I'm fine," he managed to respond. He turned his head to face ahead once more. "I've got a lot on my mind right now, that's all." He checked his clock, and his gray eyes narrowed irritably upon noticing that it was now 10 minutes past the time that the glee club's recess session was supposed to start. "And for that matter," he thought to himself, "why hasn't Mr. Schue gotten the session started already?"

Zack instinctively looked at his own watch, and mentally winced as he to realized that the session was apparently going to begin later than it was supposed to. "Man," he thought to himself. "What is taking her so long?"

The reason the recess session that day hadn't yet begun by that point? One glaringly empty seat in the row where Zack, Bailey, and the two Asian Americans were seated combined with the conspicuous absence of a certain cheerleader provided a more than sufficient answer. Charlotte, for some inexplicable reason, hadn't yet arrived to the choir room. Zack sighed, and shook his head side to side. Truth be told, this was now the second time that Charlotte would be arriving late for a glee club session. The very first time had been the previous day's afterschool session, and Zack was currently strongly hoping that the head cheerio wouldn't make a habit out of arriving late.

Right as Zack had this thought, he suddenly found himself feeling the very uncomfortable feeling that people sometimes got when they felt as if they were being watched. He surreptitiously looked to his left just in time to see that Bailey, Cody, and Raj were all directing a rather unnerving glare towards him. The trio noticed Zach's subtle glance towards them, and their eyes narrowed further. Then Cody proceeded to push his glasses upward with his left pointer finger to adjust him. However, with the glare on his face, the gesture seemed to be more of a silent physical means for the Korean American to tell Zack that he had his eye on him. Raj gritted his teeth in a silent snarl and lifted his right leg, positioning his right foot as if preparing to thrust it at Zack in a painful jabbing kick. Bailey, meanwhile, drew out her cellphone and positioned it so that Zack could have an undeniable full view of her rather meaningfully pointing at it with her right finger. From the look on her face, Zack had a bad feeling that she was indicating that she was at the ready to call the police on him.

Mentally shivering, Zach unconsciously turned his head to look behind him. Unfortunately, he soon learned the hard way that it would have been better for him to look at the area in front of him instead. In the row of seats behind him, were the four sophomores; and Dunlap and Darren were directing venomous glares of suspicion towards him while also holding having their arms positioned in front of a seemingly quite shaken up and nervous Naomi and Amber as if trying to protect them. Zach mentally gulped at the sight of this. If looks could kill, then the shared look of hatred and malice he could now see in Dunlap's crimson red eyes and Darren's amber yellow contact lenses would have been turned him to ashes a thousand times over.

Mentally shuddering, Zack looked back at the row in front of him, only for it to take all his willpower not to visibly jolt and scream at the sight of the murderous look that Calvin was now directing towards him. The blonde boy had his black eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed up as he glared at the African American boy. As Zack continued to hold Calvin's gaze, scarcely daring to breath, the autistic boy gritted his teeth, snarled, and draped his left arm over Susan's shoulders from behind. Right as he did this, he pointed his right finger at Zack in a clear 'watch out' gesture. The sound of a low growling from Calvin's right caused Zack to direct his attention in that direction just in time to see Hobbes looking towards him with a glare on his face that was almost an exact canine replica of the one on his master's face. Zack shuddered, closed his eyes, and shook his head side to side. At that moment, he was starting to get the feeling that it would somehow be very bad for his health if Charlotte didn't arrive soon and allow Mr. Schuester to be able to get the glee club session underway within the next three or four minutes. "Man," he thought to himself. "Charlotte better get here soon." He surreptitiously directed one more glance at each of the students that were glaring at him. "And for that matter," he thought to himself. "Just how badly _did_ I piss these guys off?"

"Hello everyone!"

All the gleeks looked towards the door to the choir room just in time to see none other than Charlotte Thornton herself strolling in all casually as if there were nothing wrong. Hobbes, Mr. Schuester, Brad the piano man, and the members of the band, likewise looked in her direction, varying levels of annoyance on their own faces. Mr. Schuester, naturally, was the only one to masterfully hide any annoyance he may have felt with a mask of happiness at her arrival and being able to finally get the newest session of the glee club on the road. "Good to see you've arrived Charlotte," he said diplomatically.

"Took her long enough," Calvin grumbled under his breath. All the other gleeks, bar Zack, nodded their heads in agreement.

Surprisingly enough, the usually silent Brad was the one to speak his thoughts aloud. "You're late," he grunted frankly.

Upon hearing this, the band members flinched, clearly expecting Charlotte to fly off the handle. The gleeks, Zack and Hobbes included, likewise went on guard. Mr. Schuester, on the other hand, winced, teeth gritted and eyes closed as he shook his head side to side. "Good God Brad," he thought to himself. "Was that really necessary?"

Much to everyone's surprise, and somewhat relief, Charlotte merely took a deep breath, exhaled, and then let a small smile come on her face. "So I'm a bit fashionably late." She shrugged. "Oh well."

"There's a difference between being fashionably late, and being tardy."

Calvin folded his arms across his chest and glared at Charlotte. "And this here? This is more of an example of the latter."

The other gleeks all rolled their eyes and slumped over in irritation upon hearing Calvin's very blunt and undiplomatic summation. Susan even went so far as to facepalm. "Really Calvin?" she thought to herself. Hobbes, meanwhile, proceeded to slam his face down on the floor and unleash a withering groan that sounded very much like a canine equivalent of a sigh.

Charlotte directed her smile towards Calvin; only now, her smile looked very noticeably tight as if she were struggling to avoid losing her temper. "Let's agree, to disagree, shall we?" Without even bothering to wait for Calvin to respond, she walked over to her empty seat to Zack's right and sat down.

At that moment, Mr. Schuester decided that now was a good time to get the club's attention off Charlotte's glaring second late arrival in a row to a glee club session and get everybody in good spirits for the now quite overdue to begin session. "Alright everyone," said the teacher, clapping his hands together once to make extra sure that he got the attention of all the students present in the choir room for the glee club. "Now that we're all here, who'd like to come up to fulfill their part for the assignment this week?"

Nine of the gleeks who hadn't yet fulfilled their part in the assignment began thinking to themselves, trying to decide if they were ready to do so today. Zack, however, had an idea of his own. "I have a suggestion."

Everyone in the room looked at Zack, who smiled, pointed at Charlotte, and said, "I say we have Charlotte give us a peace offering for her late arrival by being the first to perform this session."

Charlotte was at first stunned by how Zack had effectively made the decision for her on whether she should go ahead and do her performance for the assignment. Then she thought to herself some more and found a smug smile coming onto her face. "I'll admit," she thought to herself. "This idea does sound rather appealing."

The other gleeks, meanwhile, were all directing suspicious glares towards Zach once more. Daniel sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Well this certainly isn't making them feel any better about him," he grumbled to himself under his breath. As little as he knew about the glee club members he didn't yet know nearly as well as Diana and Zack, he had come to realize quite quickly the previous day that they all seemed to share a mutual dislike towards Charlotte. And now, the fact that Zack had very blatantly done something that was just slightly in her favor was not earning him any points or trust amongst them. And if what he'd reportedly done this morning and the previous day to earn their current distrust towards him had in fact happened, trust was the one thing he _really_ needed to work on building.

"Alright then," said Mr. Schuester. He beckoned towards Charlotte. "You heard Zack. I suppose you're up first today."

Charlotte smiled, got up from her seat, and made her way over to where a microphone stand was conveniently positioned.

"Alright everyone," she said as she picked up the microphone and turned to face the rest of the glee club members. "Hope you're ready, because my performance this week is gonna leave you seeing stars." She turned her head towards the band and winked at them. "Hit it boys."

Charlotte had just turned her head to face her audience, smile still on her face, when one of the three boys amongst the band said, "Hit what?"

Charlotte looked back at the band, her shock clearly showing on her face as she gaped at the three boys, particularly at the single blonde amongst them that worked as the guitarist. The guitarist, glare not once leaving his face, stated matter-of-factly, "What's the song you want us to perform?"

Charlotte continued gaping in stunned speechlessness at the three band members. "Buh . . . buh . . . but . . . why?"

The three band members' eyes narrowed even further. "Well how else are we supposed to know what to perform when one of the singers performs?" the bassist asked. He rolled his eyes. "It's not like we're mind readers or anything."

"You never asked them what song they were performing yesterday beforehand!" Charlotte yelled, gesturing with her hand at Cody, Bailey, and Raj.

"We did," said the bassist. "And they told us in advance yesterday once they'd decided upon their choice of songs."

"How?!" Charlotte asked. "I didn't see or hear that happening!"

She suddenly heard a slight vibrating noise coming from behind her, and she turned her head just in time to see her cell phone that she'd left on her seat brighten up with a text message notification. As she watched, with the rest of the gleeks, plus Mr. Schuester and Hobbes, instinctively turning their heads to look at the matter themselves, Zack leaned over to his right in time to get a good look at the content of the text message.

Upon sight of it, the black boy's eyes widened, and his teeth gritted in a silent wince. "Man," he said. "I never thought texting images had stuff _this_ vulgar amongst the options.

"There's your answer."

Charlotte turned her head back towards the band just in time to see the drummer slip his cell phone back into his pants pocket. He glared back at her. "It's called texting." He nodded his head once with his eyes closed. "You should try it sometime."

Charlotte heard a mass storm of sniggering from behind her, and she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes at the sound of it. She could tell without even looking that the other students amongst the 'singers' as the band so accurately put it, were responsible. "With my luck," she thought to herself bitterly, "Daniel's sniggering alongside them." She sighed, shook her head side to side, and then looked towards the band, a seemingly world weary expression on her face. "Fine," she sighed. "If I must."

She walked over to the three band boys and whispered something into the ear of the guitarist. After about a minute, the guitarist nodded, beckoned for his two fellow band mates to come over, and then passed the information to them in the same fashion that Charlotte had provided it to him. Satisfied, the three band members took their positions and likewise prepared themselves and their instruments. Charlotte, meanwhile, walked back over to where she'd been positioned before the brief hold up.

"Sorry about that," she said, already back to her prior cheery and self-confident self. She lifted the microphone back up to her lips. " _Now_ I'll have you seeing stars with my performance."

She snapped her fingers without turning her head. "Hit it boys."

The band members, more than prepared, promptly began playing the appropriate tune. It didn't take long at all for the 12 students still seated to recognize the song. The performance that ensued, with Charlotte singing and dancing, the band's performances with their instruments, and under the watchful eyes of a quite excited Zack, politely interested Brad and Mr. Schuester, and 11 quite bored other gleeks, went something like this:

 _This is more than the typical kinda thing  
Felt the jones in my bones when you were touching me, uh oh  
Didn't wanna take it slow  
In a daze, going crazy, I can barely think  
You're replaying in my brain, find it hard to sleep, uh oh  
Waiting for my phone to blow  
Uh oh yep  
Now I'm here in a sticky situation  
Got a little trouble, yep and now I'm pacing  
Five minutes, ten minutes, now it's been an hour  
Uh don't wanna think too hard, but I'm sour  
Uh oh, I can't seem to let you go  
See, I've been waiting all day  
For you to call me baby  
So let's get up, let's get on it  
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight  
Come on, that's right  
Honest baby, I'll do anything you want to  
So can we finish what we started  
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight  
Come on, that's right, cheerio  
What's the time, such a crime  
Not a single word, sipping on that Patrón  
Just to calm my nerves, uh oh  
Poppin' bottles by the phone  
Oh yeah  
Had me up, had me down, turn me inside out  
That's enough, call me up  
Baby I'm in doubt, oh oh  
I don't even think you know, no no  
See, I've been waiting all day  
For you to call me baby  
So let's get up, let's get on it  
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight  
Come on, that's right  
Honest baby, I'll do anything you want to  
So can we finish what we started  
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight  
Come on, that's right, cheerio  
Anything you wanna do, I'll be on it too  
Everything you said is like gold with the view  
Business in the front, party in the back  
Maybe I was wrong, was the outfit really wack?  
This kinda thing doesn't happen usually  
I'm on the opposite side of it, truthfully  
I know you want it so come and get it, cheerio  
See, I've been waiting all day  
For you to call me baby  
So let's get up, let's get on it  
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight, ohhhohohhhoohhhh  
Honest baby, I'll do anything you want to  
So can we finish what we started  
Don't you leave me brokenhearted tonight  
Come on, that's right, cheeri, cheerio  
When you gonna call  
Don't leave me brokenhearted  
I've been waiting up  
Let's finish what we started, oh oh  
I can't seem to let you go  
Come on, that's right, cheerio, uh!_

Once her performance was finished, Charlotte needed only to wait for about 3 seconds, before she heard applause. She smiled happily, blue eyes bright and wide with an almost victorious gleam. Then she listened more carefully as the applause continued, and her eyes narrowed with her smile turning into a frown as she realized that the applause sounded very clearly as if there were only one person involved. She looked directly at the audience just in time to see that there was indeed only on person genuinely applauding for her complete with clapping and cheering; Zack.

The other 11 students, meanwhile, had seemingly found better things to do. Raj was looking to his left as he bounced a tennis ball back and forth off the nearby wall and into his hand. Bailey had a binder, pencil, and text book out as she seemingly worked on homework. Cody was cleaning his glasses. Amber appeared to be looking something up on her phone. Darren was tuning his guitar. Naomi had drawn out what looked like some sort of rag and was seemingly polishing her cane. Dunlap had an oil can in his hands that he was now applying to various joints and similar areas on his prosthetic legs. Diana was reading a book. Susan was in the midst of drawing something. Daniel had his eyes closed, and his head moving side to side as he listened to whatever was playing through the earbuds in his ears connected to his IPod. Calvin, however, was by far the worst offender out of the bunch; for he had somehow managed to fall asleep over the course of Charlotte's performance, and was now still fast asleep, snoring like a lion. And the real kicker? Hobbes was asleep as well.

Charlotte slumped, glare still on her face as she watched the very icy reception she was getting from almost her entire audience. "Seriously?" she thought to herself venomously. "What the Hell? All that star quality and I get treated with _this_?" She clenched her right fist and lifted it in the air. "Bastards! How dare they!?"

The cheerleader directed an almost accusing glare towards Mr. Schuester, who could only grimace and spread his hands out to his sides with a sheepish and apologetic look on his face. Charlotte narrowed her eyes, snorted, and then gave an arrogant toss of her hair over her right shoulder before she then stormed back to her seat with clenched fists, practically slamming herself into seated position on the chair. Upon reclaiming her seat, she sat resolutely with her arms folded across her chest and her face seemingly paralyzed in an angry glare, stewing away in her funk.

Mr. Schuester sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Animosity like this always tends to pop up in this club," he thought to himself. He sighed once more. "But that never means I have to like it." He cleared his throat. "Ok everyone, is there anyone else who'd like to perform today?"

Zack stood up from his seat. "Say no more Mr. Schue. I shall perform."

At the sound of this announcement, the other 11 glee club students who'd been amongst Charlotte's audience paused in their respective activities, raising their eyebrows in apparent interest. "Well this oughta be better than anything that tone-deaf witch has to offer," Calvin thought to himself. The others, Daniel and Diana included, were thinking similar thoughts . . . to an extent.

"Whether he's truly gone as bad as they claim or not," Daniel thought to himself. "I wouldn't say he's warranted us behaving for his performance in the same way we just did for Charlotte's performance just yet."

"Regardless of what he may or may not have done to earn the ire of the other students in this club," Diana thought to herself, "he at least deserves the benefit of the doubt when his musical performance ability is to be considered. He's still worthy of that much at least."

Zach picked up the microphone Charlotte had discarded. "Good morning people," he began good naturedly. "Hope you had fun not too long ago, because now I'm ready to give you some more."

At the sound of the first half of that phrase, all the other gleeks, Charlotte included, slumped their heads forward; all of them with the same 'are you for real?' look on their faces. Even Mr. Schuester was dumbfounded at Zach's apparent obliviousness to how he'd been the only one who appeared to have enjoyed Charlotte's performance in any capacity. "Were you not paying _any_ attention at all?" he thought to himself.

"I now proudly present, my performance."

Zach turned his head to face the band members. "And yes, I do believe I did text you the song I planned to perform. Am I right?" The band nodded their heads. "Good." He snapped his fingers. "Let's get it on."

The guitarist was the first to react, and the resulting tune was one that Mr. Schuester recognized quite quickly, a nostalgic smile coming on his face. The other gleeks, likewise, recognized the tune. Even Charlotte could resist the small smile that formed on her face as she recognized the song as well. The performance that ensued went something like this:

 _I thought love was  
Only true in fairy tales  
Meant for someone else  
But not for me  
Love was out to get to me  
That's the way it seems  
Disappointment haunted  
All my dreams  
And then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
I'm in love  
I'm a believer  
I couldn't leave her  
If I tried  
I thought love was  
More or less a given thing  
But the more I gave the less  
I got, oh yeah  
What's the use in trying  
All you get is pain  
When I wanted sunshine  
I got rain  
And then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
I'm in love  
I'm a believer  
I couldn't leave her  
If I tried  
(Duel guitar solo from guitarist and Zach)  
What's the use in trying  
All you get is pain  
When I wanted sunshine  
I got rain  
And then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
I'm in love  
I'm a believer  
I couldn't leave her  
If I tried  
(Guitar solo)_

 _Then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
Now I'm a believer  
Yeah, yeah, yeah  
Yeah, yeah, yeah  
I'm a believer  
I'm a believer  
I'm a believer_

All of two seconds passed the end of Zach's performance before the other 12 students burst into applause. Even the 9 gleek that currently hated and distrusted him couldn't help but guiltily clap and applaud. For as much as they didn't like him at that moment, not even Calvin could deny that Zach was at least a good singer for the club. Hobbes even went so far as to thump his tail on the ground at a polite speed while slowly nodding his head up and down with a 'well played' look on his face. Zach smiled, gave a bow to his audience, and then returned to his seat.

Mr. Schuester finished his clapping, nodded his head, and then said, "Well done Zack. I'm sure Puck would have been honored."

Zack gave the teacher a thumbs-up. "Thank you, Mr. Schue."

"You're welcome."

Mr. Schuester clapped his hands once to gather the attention of all his students, plus everyone else in the room. "Alright everyone, listen up. At this time, Zack's performance will be the last one for this session due to one sadly not entirely punctual arrival."

"That's one way to put it," Calvin muttered under his breath.

"However," the teacher continued. "We still have just enough time for me to tell you of one small matter that I want you all to take care of at some point this week."

All 13 of the gleeks promptly directed their attention towards Mr. Schuester. "What do you want us to do?" Daniel asked.

Mr. Schuester smiled. "I was hoping you would ask." He nodded his head. "If possible, I want you all to engage in a group performance during lunch today at the earliest, and at least before the end of this Friday at the very latest." He started to walk towards the white board in the room. "As I'm sure you're probably aware, there have been multiple times in past years in which I've had the members of this club put on live group performances somewhere in the school where large numbers of other students gather early on in the year to spread awareness, promote interest, and attract potential new members."

"But we've already got 13 members," said Calvin.

"He's right," said Susan. "And besides, we're all brand-new members."

"Exactly."

Mr. Schuester turned a full 180 to face towards the 13 students, his back facing the white board, and a black sharpie in his right hand. "As of this current school year, the New Directions, for the first time in history since their inception, have a membership that consists entirely of brand new members with no old timers whatsoever from previous years amongst the roster."

He turned around and started writing on the white board. "For any other glee club, this wouldn't be a problem. But here at McKinley, this is something that will very much allow for a small bit of tension."

Diana raised her eyebrow. "And why's that?"

"I shall explain."

Mr. Schuester paused in his writing to face his students once more. "You see, for some reason or other, the student body around here has a not entirely view point of view on how deserving students in this club are of their respect in direct correlation with how long they've been members of this club and whether they've been around to experience a Nationals victory.

"To name one example," the teacher continued, "In the beginning of the fall 2012 semester, as you are probably aware, the 7 preexisting members that were still around following the graduation of half the previous year's roster and the deportation of one other member were still treated with relatively high respect by the rest of the student body. However, . . ."

Mr. Schuester took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "The brand-new students that joined that year, starting with Marley Rose and Unique Adams, turned out to be what the less sympathetic students around here considered 'fair game' due to they're being brand new to the club and having not yet been members long enough to have proven themselves worthy of being treated with respect as champions."

Mr. Schuester turned to face the board once more and resumed his writing. "And with each batch of new students to join the ranks of the New Directions over the years, that same unpleasant inconvenience has continued without fail to pop up again and again and again."

"Let me guess," Darren grumbled. "This could very soon befall all of us."

"Exactly," Mr. Schuester confirmed. "Which is precisely why I want you all to undergo the following task as soon as possible."

He stepped aside to allow what he'd written on the white board to be fully visible to the 13 gleeks, simultaneously turning another 180 to face them once more. The word that was revealed to have been written on the white board in big all capital letters was 'RESPECT'.

"I want you," Mr. Schuester began, pointing his still uncapped sharpie at the 'RESPECT' written on the white board, "to go out there and nip any potential resurgence in this unpleasant mentality in the bud." He pointed the sharpie at the 13 students. "I want you guys to go out there and prove that you are worthy of the student body's respect around here. I want you all to show that you are not at all afraid or ashamed to be a member of this club. I want you to prove to the student body that the fact that you're all brand new to the business and have never yet won any Nationals Championships doesn't make you or this club any less deserving of decent proper respect than all the stars who came before you were."

For a moment, the 13 gleeks all thought to themselves, considering what their teacher had told them. Then, one by one, all but two of them started nodding their heads up and down in apparent acceptance and agreement. One of the two who didn't nod was Charlotte. At that moment, she was quite busy thinking about the potential effect on her reputation that could come from being seen actively singing and participating in a group number alongside the other students in the glee club as well as worrying about both her still unsuccessful work at winning Daniel over and the fact that he was making such a strong effort of his own to befriend the other gleeks from a lower student caste then the jocks and cheerleaders. The other gleek who wasn't yet nodding, meanwhile, was none other than Calvin; but for reasons far less sinister then Charlotte's.

"This early on?" Calvin asked, a clear hint of nervousness in his tone.

Susan and Hobbes both directed concerned looks at Calvin, and then at each other. They both knew Calvin well enough to understand how the autistic, as willing to broaden his horizons as he was by joining the glee club, he was still far from prepared to do something as blatantly attention grabbing as publicly taking part in a group number in front of God knew how many people.

"This early on," Mr. Schuester confirmed.

Susan and Hobbes directed their attention at Calvin, clearly still concerned. Nine of the other gleeks also directed concerned looks towards the autistic boy. Charlotte, of course, had a malicious smirk on her face, complete with a very wolf-like grin. However, as Daniel was very surprised to notice out of the corner of his eye, Zack had a similar smirk on his face directed towards Calvin as well. At this, Daniel gulped, an uneasy look on his face as he realized the very unfortunate implications that came with the sight. He was now starting to become considerably less confident then he'd already become about whether there truly was any possibility that his friend was in fact innocent of what all his hopeful new friends had accused him of that morning.

Calvin gulped, looked briefly at Susan out of the corner of his eyes, then at Hobbes, and then sighed and hung his head. "If you say so."

Susan placed her hand on Calvin's left shoulder, a reassuring look on her face that silently spoke loud enough for even Calvin to tell that everything would be alright. Most of the other gleeks, Diana included, directed warm smiles towards Calvin and Susan as the tanned skinned brunette did her work at comforting her autistic blonde friend. Even Hobbes was staring happily towards his master and close female companion. Daniel, however, had a noticeably nervous look on his face as he looked at Zack, who had a very unnerving look on his dark face that seemed in Daniel's mind to radiate with jealousy. Charlotte, meanwhile, simply rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out as if she were grossed out by the display.

At that moment, the bell rang. And in that moment, Daniel couldn't have been happier to get out of the choir room. As of now, he had quite a lot to think about, and he was now not entirely sure if he could trust himself to be in the same room as Zack.

 **And just like that, another chapter over! Boy I hope you enjoyed this chapter and found it worth the long wait! I also hope you enjoyed the song choices for this chapter as well. And in case any of you were wondering, the content of the 'vulgar' message that the drummer sent to Charlotte? A virtual image of a hand giving the finger. And while I'm at it, like I said two chapters ago, you have indeed not seen the last of what I like to call 'Dark Zack'. As of this chapter, you can definitely see just how much darker he's capable of being then I allowed him to be shown as in the main GWAF story. Chilling isn't it? Well anyway, on that note, again I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of** ** _TWO_** **reviews for this chapter before I can post the next completed chapter). Furthermore, I also hope very much to get the next chapter done a heck of a lot quicker then this one (but don't hold your breaths on that one :/). Again, hope you enjoyed! ^_^**

 **Songs Used:**

 **Brokenhearted - Karmin - Performed by Charlotte Thornton**

 **I'm a Believer - Smash Mouth - Performed by Zack Skinner**

 **(P.S: I forgot to mention, the song in the previous chapter was I Gotta be Me by Sammy Davis Jr. as performed by Daniel Taymor with dancing accompaniment from Calvin Martenson; you may remember that Finn himself once sang this very song with dancing partnership from Mike in the season 2 episode, Born this Way).**

 **Coming up Next: Charlotte has some words to say to Daniel about his efforts at befriending so many more students in the glee club that are in the same student popularity caste as Diana. Meanwhile, Mr. Schuester spends some time in the choir room alone before his next American History lesson to both think about how good the chances of his current generation of New Directioneers may yet be while also reminiscing about some of his older generations of students in his beloved glee club.**


	8. Family in All But Blood

**Hey everyone! Geez it's been WAY too long since I last updated. Oh well, here's to hoping that this brand new chapter will be more than worth the wait! ^_^ In this long awaited new addition to my latest GWAFU story, Charlotte has decided that she's waited long enough to voice her thoughts on Daniel's current efforts at befriending his fellow savory gleeks; thoughts that she's managed to keep to herself with considerable difficulty all the way up till now following her first catching sight of him in the act all the way back at the end of chapter 6. And at the same time this little bit of drama is going on, our favorite fearless director of the glee club, Mr. William Schuester himself, is having some thoughts of his own about both his current generation of gleeks, and other generations that have long since moved on with the passage of time, with one generation in particular weighing especially heavily on his mind. Sound like something worth reading after all this waiting? I certainly hope so! (And for that matter, happy belated Valentine's Day to all my fans!)**

 **A/N: But first, I'd best remind you all once more that I do not own Glee or any of the 'canonical elements' associated with it (or, for that matter, the song I include in this chapter). All I own are my OCs. That being said, onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 8:**

 **Family in All But Blood**

Charlotte saw how quickly Daniel exited the choir room after the bell rang. She also saw how Diana, Susan, Calvin, and Hobbes followed close behind him . . . very close behind him. And she was _not_ happy with either of these details. She clenched her fists as she carefully followed the small group of four out of the choir room from a good couple feet behind. "And I thought he couldn't possibly stoop any lower than he already has just by associating with that unworthy little wench." She raised her right fist with a wide-eyed look of rage on her face. "Yet here he is today trying to befriend even more of his social inferiors?" Her eyes then narrowed as she briefly directed her focus on Calvin. "Even going so far as to try to willingly associate with that ungodly _thing_? What is this world coming to?!"

Charlotte came to a stop, shook her head side to side, and then snapped her face back in the direction of her four fellow juniors and the dog. "I don't know what Daniel's thinking," she thought to herself as she proceeded to remove her backpack from her shoulders. She placed it on the floor in front of her, unzipped it, and started digging through it as if trying to draw something out. "But I am _not_ going to let Daniel ruin his life like this. I'm going to stop this madness right this day before it can progress any further then this morning."

In that instant, the angry head cheerleader drew out a large megaphone from her backpack, cranked it to its 50% volume point, and lifted it to her face. "DANIEL TAYMOR!" she practically shrieked through the megaphone. "STOP RIGHT NOW!"

The effect that resulted from her shouting through the megaphone began before she'd even finished shouting Daniel's name, with Calvin noticeably tensing up, stopping in his tracks, and slamming his hands upon his ears before rearing his head back and howling with his eyes closed from the discomfortingly loud noise. Calvin's three fellow high ranking gleeks, plus Hobbes, already surprised into stopping by the unexpected loud noise, became especially more concerned when they heard and saw how Calvin was reacting.

After what seemed like a painfully long amount of time following Charlotte's finishing her shouting, Calvin appeared to recover; albeit, still noticeably groaning and shaking his head. He opened his eyes, a still somewhat pained wince on his face as the lingering echoes slowly continued to fade from his ears. The autistic eventually shook his head side to side rigorously, allowing himself to snap into full recovery, and he turned his head with a very wide-eyed and aggrieved 'WTF' look on his face. Daniel, Diana, and Susan also turned their heads to look behind them. Naturally, so did Hobbes, who promptly snarled menacingly at the sight of the girl he'd pounced on the previous day who was now holding an incriminating megaphone in her hands.

The four gleeks standing alongside Hobbes also noticed Charlotte and the megaphone, and narrowed their eyes in annoyance. "Seriously?" they all thought.

Charlotte snarled and lifted the megaphone to her mouth once more. "YOU HEARD ME! GET OVER HERE NOW!"

Calvin snarled in discomfort with his eyes closed and hands over his ears once more. His four companions likewise seemed strongly affected by the noise, and they all shook their heads and rolled their eyes to recover. "Jesus Christ," Calvin muttered under his breath when he'd sufficiently recovered. "What is with this girl?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes, and shook his head side to side. "And here I was thinking I'd gotten a free pass for the week in her regard."

Charlotte waited for a full minute, and not once did Daniel so much as move a single step in any direction, let alone towards her. She grumbled irritably at this development, and lifted her megaphone yet again. "I SAID . . ."

She was then forced to duck when a baseball suddenly hurtled straight towards her face. She lifted her head, now seething with rage as she looked back towards the four students she'd just been shouting at through her megaphone . . . particularly at Calvin. "Hey!" she yelled, thankfully without using the megaphone this time, shaking her left fist at him at the same time. "Don't throw things at people when they're trying to talk you uncivilized jerk!"

"We heard you the first time you pig!" Calvin shouted back, clearly unrepentant at his throwing a baseball at Charlotte.

In the world of a cartoon, Charlotte would have grown a noticeable tick mark on her forehead. She was that angry now. "Why I oughta," she began.

"You will do no such thing!"

Charlotte snapped into a shocked state, rearing back slightly at the same time. And from her perspective, for quite good reason, as none other than Daniel had just now said these words, and he was now directing an iron glare towards her with his gray eyes narrowed and burning angrily. The black-haired boy snarled, and shook his head side to side. "You heard me," he grunted coldly. "Leave my friend alone."

For a brief moment, Daniel's three human companions and the dog alongside them gaped at him with just as much surprise on their faces as was on Charlotte's face. Then the shock gave way to happy smiles. Even Diana was quite pleased, just as touched as Susan, Calvin, and Hobbes that Daniel had come to consider the autistic boy his friend so quickly. "And with that in mind," she thought to herself, her green eyes agleam in admiration, "He's probably almost definitely considering the same to be true of Susan and Hobbes." Her smile widened. "Heck, I know we talked about this earlier, but I actually feel pretty good myself calling Calvin and Hobbes my friends."

Charlotte finally regained her voice. "Friend?!" she yelled. "Already?!" She pointed her finger at the autistic boy. "You just got to know him today!"

"And yet, I've still managed to become good friends with him, Susan, and Hobbes before the end of this morning." Daniel nodded his head up and down, sighing in content. "Yep," he said. "Such is the joy."

At that point, Charlotte narrowed her eyes once more. "Well never mind that," she hissed. She pointed at his three friends. "Just tell them to go away; we need to talk!"

To her shock, Daniel only laughed. "I think not," he said. He folded his arms across his chest, a smug smile on his face. "They're my friends, and they're staying here with me."

"You heard him," said Diana, folding her own arms across her chest in the process in a not entirely subtle mirroring of Daniel's position. "Whatever it is you want to tell him, you can say it in front of us."

"Damn right," said Susan.

"What they said," Calvin added.

Hobbes snarled and nodded his head in clear agreement.

Charlotte glared at the group, practically steaming with rage at how things were _still_ not going her way. She took a deep breath, exhaled tensely, and proceeded to storm her way towards her four fellow gleeks and the dog. Once she was about a foot away from the small group, she came to a stop and placed the megaphone on the floor next to her feet. She glared straight at Daniel. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed.

Daniel narrowed his own eyes. "Who says there's anything wrong with me?"

Charlotte growled. "Isn't it obvious?" She gestured her hand dismissively towards Diana. "Granted, I already knew that there was some substantial work that needed to be done with you considering how much you actively associate with this little piece of trash." She then pointed in Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes's direction. "But them to?!" She facepalmed, groaning irritably. "Seriously," she continued, "can you not see how beneath you all these people are that you're trying to befriend? You're the quarterback! You could be the freaking king of this place if you just got your head straight. You deserve better company then all these unworthy lowlifes." She pointed at Calvin once more. "And you _especially_ deserve better company then animals like him!"

"Well technically," said Calvin, "we're all animals here." He folded his arms across his chest. "Scientifically speaking, humans are just as much animals as any nonhuman animal like Hobbes." The German Shepherd barked once and nodded his head in agreement. "Honestly," the autistic boy continued, "humans being really all that different from animals, let alone above them in any way, shape, or form? That's really more of a mentally ingrained concept then a 100% legitimate fact."

Charlotte groaned, rearing her head back to face the ceiling. She repositioned her head to face Calvin directly, a clear look of annoyance on her face. "Must you be so smart you damn know-it-all?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Calvin responded with a smirk on his face.

Susan and Diana promptly did a synchronized spit take, and then burst out laughing at Calvin's unexpected response to what Charlotte couldn't have more clearly meant to frame as an insult. Daniel chuckled, and pounded his fist against his left side to keep himself together. Even Hobbes couldn't help but let out his distinctive gurgling snorts that served as his unique form of laughter.

Charlotte, with great effort, managed to avoid exploding in anger from the humiliation of her attempted insult towards Calvin had just now epically backfired. She sighed, shook her head side to side, and made a helpless gesture with her hands. "Well never mind that!" she practically shrieked. "The point is," she pointed at Daniel, "you, buddy, are making too strong of an effort at befriending the wrong sort. And quite frankly, it's high time someone put a stop to it. You've already gone far enough off the ranch with having this ugly thing," she pointed at Diana when she said those last three words. "But now you're going too far. This craziness you're up to right now? It ends today!"

"Sorry." Daniel folded his arms across his chest, a smug look on his face that indicated that he was far from sorry. "Wrong. That's not gonna happen."

Charlotte damn near growled. "And why the Hell not?"

"Simple." Daniel pointed his finger at Charlotte. "You're not the boss of me. This is my life, this is a free country, and I have a mind of my own that I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions with." The quarterback stretched his arms upward, a confident gleam still in his gray eyes. "And I daresay, as far as you need to know, all the life decisions I've made so far leading up to and including today are ones that I'm perfectly ok with. And not only that, but my family and friends, old and new, are likewise perfectly fine with the decisions I've made. In fact, the amount of people who are ok with my life decisions far outweighs the amount of people who aren't." He looked back at Charlotte once more. "And furthermore, even if that weren't the case, I don't like you anyway. So frankly, I don't give a shit what you think about my life decisions."

Immediately after saying all this, Daniel gestured to indicate Diana, Susan, Calvin, and Hobbes. "My friends." He lifted his right index finger. "My choice." He pointed at himself. "I'm right." He pointed at Charlotte. "You're wrong." He placed his hands on his hips. "Simple as that."

Charlotte found herself sputtering and struggling to think up a response. Daniel grinned smugly at the sight, for he could tell that he now had undeniable 100% control over the whole conversation. "Just give it up Lady Macbeth," said Daniel. "You lost all hope in this inane crusade of yours before it even began. Stop lying to yourself. The only success you've ever gotten in this, or ever will get in this, is making a complete and utter idiot of yourself; and believe me, that doesn't take very much effort."

Charlotte's eyes narrowed at the last part, but Daniel wasn't finished speaking. "Face it," he continued. "You've lost, and there sure as Hell ain't a damn thing you can do about it." He extended his left hand and started making a silent counting motion with his fingers and right hand. "I am going to befriend all the other members of the glee club apart from you. I am going to stay in this club and be damn proud of it. I am going to follow in Finn Hudson's footsteps one way or another. I am going to live my life the way I see fit. And finally, . . ."

Daniel paused, and took a deep breath, all for dramatic effect. "I will never; and I repeat, _never_ ; allow myself to be so damned as to become romantically linked with you. I'd sooner stab myself in the balls, use a urinating elephant as a shower, and eat nothing but horse manure for a week; and those are things you couldn't convince me to do even if it meant I'd get to be the President of the United States, which I don't even want to be anyhow." He folded his arms across his chest. "So there, that's how it's gonna be. Plain and simple. 100% fact."

Charlotte was now practically quaking with rage at how Daniel had once again played her for a complete and utter chump and caused her to once again still be left with absolutely nothing going her way that day. Then, with a supreme effort, she managed to take a deep breath, exhale, and noticeably relinquish in her tension level. "Fine," she hissed. "You win this time." She leaned her head forward, fists clenched and at her sides. "But know this," she snarled. "Actions speak louder than words."

"AND THIS SPEAKS LOUDER THAN ACTIONS!"

Charlotte barely even got the chance to register the jarringly abrupt appearance of the interior of the megaphone flashing up right in her face before she was comically sent stumbling backwards by the impossibly loud shouting that erupted from it, falling flat on her backside 10 seconds later. Daniel, Diana, and Susan also found themselves wincing, and smacking their hands over their ears. Then, after they'd all gotten their bearings back and the ringing in their ears stopped, they all directed their stunned gaze towards Calvin, who was even now still standing where he was, seemingly unaffected, but with Charlotte's megaphone still positioned in front of his mouth; and on maximum volume no less. Only Hobbes seemed even remotely nonplussed about the matter the way his master was, as he had been paying attention sufficiently enough to see his master pick up Charlotte's discarded megaphone that had still been lying on the floor next to her in time to sufficiently prepare himself before his master had cranked the device to maximum volume and shouted through it. Now, of course, he was fully upright once more and seemingly not at all affected thanks to his being able to get himself prepared in time to shield himself from the worst of the noise.

For a brief moment, Charlotte gaped at Calvin, stunned speechless at how he'd managed to get ahold of her megaphone and humiliate her further then she'd already been by Daniel with the same tactics she'd used earlier to get Daniel's attention; only LOUDER. Then Calvin took a deep breath and opened his mouth as if about to shout something else, and Charlotte hurriedly scrambled onto her feet and dashed off in the opposite direction screaming her head off. And as it turned out, she was frightened enough that she ran all the way to the point of exiting sight and hearing range of the four students she'd been attempting to harass.

Calvin kept the megaphone positioned for two more minutes, and then lowered it, a cheeky grin on his face. "Man," he said, "I wasn't even going to actually say anything." He shook his head, and then directed a smug smirk in the direction that Charlotte had fled from him. "Talk about jumpy."

Susan, now recovered fully from the unexpected blasting Calvin had unwittingly subjected her ears to, couldn't help but chuckle. "Well that's how all mean girls are Calvin." She placed her hands on her hips, a confident look directed in the same direction. "They talk all tough and mean and put on a big show; but the moment their victims bite back, they devolve into sniveling wrecks."

She turned her head towards Daniel and Diana, Calvin and Hobbes doing the same. "I will say this though." The dark-haired girl pointed at the megaphone still in Calvin's right hand. "Sorry about the noise."

Daniel chuckled, and shook his head side to side in amusement. "It's fine," he said. He smirked in the direction Charlotte had fled. "After all, it did get Charlotte to leave us alone didn't it?"

"You've got that right," said Diana. She chuckled. "I daresay I hope this will get her to stay out of our business for the rest of the day."

"I wouldn't get too comfortable in that regard," Susan muttered.

"Well whether she leaves us alone for the rest of the day or not," said Daniel. "She's out of our hair now. And that's all that matters for the current moment." He checked his watch. "And for that matter, I do believe we'd best be heading off to class."

"Now _that_ , we can all definitely agree on," said Calvin. Hobbes barked twice to indicate his agreement. And at that, the four friends and the dog turned around and began to make their way to where their next class would be taking place.

. . . . .

At the exact same time that this tableau had unfolded in the hallway, Mr. Schuester had been sitting alone in the choir room, thinking to himself. The first lesson for today had gone pretty well despite Charlotte's late arrival if he did say so himself. Granted, this had been the second glee club session in a row that Charlotte had arrived so glaringly late. But regardless, he felt confident that the events that had unfolded following her finally arriving and making it possible for the session to be properly begun more than made up for this unsavory detail.

At the same time, the teacher had a particularly big topic on his mind that he somewhat guiltily felt was now actually just as important, if not more so, as the matter of how well the recent session had gone. The other matter in question? Surprisingly enough, a topic that had been innocently brought into his mind by an otherwise quite minor comment he'd made the previous day during the after-school session of the glee club.

He could remember clear as day how, not too long after Bailey's performance, he'd told her how very certain he'd been that her idol, Tina Cohen Chang, his former student from so many years prior, would have been proud of her and her performance. But now, after quite a bit of careful thinking, he now couldn't help but think about whether she truly would have been so proud, and in fact if any of the other students who'd been in the club alongside her would have felt the same way.

The teacher sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Here I go again," he thought to himself. As of that moment, as a direct result of his wondering whether any of his past members of the New Directions would have truly felt as proud of his current students' performances as he felt they would have, he had now started reminiscing over them all yet again. He couldn't help but a half sentimental and half saddened smile come onto his face as he remembered all the many other students that he'd had the honor of teaching in the glee club over the course of the 25-26 years that had unfolded before this current year that had come with its own brand new generation of gleeks.

He could remember very freshly now how happy he'd been with the latest generation to come before his current one. He could remember how much fun it had been to be around all 17 of the students who'd comprised the New Directions the previous year; especially the two leads Riley Hansford and Tess Sewicky. And immediately after he thought about them and their 15 peers, he found himself thinking about the equally sizable number of other students that had been in the club's membership over the course of all the generations that had preceded them. But even with all the generations of gleeks that he'd had the pleasure of working with before the current 13 he had in the New Directions, Mr. Schuester couldn't help but let his smile widen as his thoughts inevitably reached the very first generation of gleeks he'd ever taught and successfully brought to a victory that had finally allowed the McKinley High glee club to regain the respect and glory it had bathed in during his own time as a student and member of it . . . if only for a good couple months or so.

He sighed once more as he thought about the 16 students that had made up his very first generation of New Directions. "Well," he thought to himself. "Technically 18; but still." He sighed again. "Man, it's been so long since I've seen them all." He thought to himself, and then promptly amended the thought. "Well ok, I saw Finn two months ago; but aside from him, I don't think I've really seen any of my former students from that time, let alone from any of the other generations that occurred before Tess and Riley." He hung his head. "Now that I think about it," he thought to himself. "I have a bad feeling that the last time I ever saw any of the other students from my very first generation of New Directions members in person was all the way at Rachel's debut on Broadway with the Funny Girl reawakening premiere, and that was 22 years ago."

Mr. Schuester's head abruptly reared back up, his eyes widened with shock as he remembered another important detail. He promptly cursed bitterly in his mind. "And what's worse," he thought to himself, "Until that time I saw him two months ago, I'd barely seen him at all either since the last time he was able to have enough time to drop by to help me out with the glee club." He gulped. "When was the last time I saw him in between Rachel's debut and the day I visited him in the hospital two months ago?" Much to his horror, he found that he couldn't even remember the exact date anymore.

"Have I really gotten that complacent and out of touch with everyone?" the teacher thought to himself. "Complacent enough to not even remember how long it's been since the last time I ever saw the only former student I've ever seen in person more than once following Rachel's Broadway debut to occur before the most recent date? Out of touch enough to barely even pay enough attention just to be aware of all the events that have occurred in the world involving all the others? Let alone talk to them or even _try_ to find some way to see any of them in person?"

Then another thought popped into his mind, and he hung his head, facepalming and groaning in just barely contained despair. He'd just now remembered the exact context of the time he'd met up with Finn in person two months ago, and the memory of this detail was now making him feel even worse. The visit in question had occurred at the hospital . . . and with Finn as the patient. Exactly one week before the day of that visit, Finn had gotten grievously wounded in a dramatic situation that Mr. Schuester himself was surprised had occurred in real life, let alone to one of his own students. In a severe case of teen drama gone to incredulous heights, one of the students in the class Finn taught as the Lima Senior High Schools American Literature teacher had chosen to act on his rage at a romantic rejection from one of his fellow students in the class by tracking her down to a local Food Lion where she'd been hanging out with her new boyfriend (who had coincidentally been yet another one of Finn's students) and his mother and engaging in a shootout there with the intention of both killing the boyfriend to satisfy his need for justice as well as causing God knew how much damage and death just for the fun of it. While the boy in question had been successfully taken out and submitted to the custody of the authorities, and the attack had ended swiftly without any fatalities, Finn had been shot in the stomach soon after he'd gotten involved directly to attempt to stop the shooting. And as Mr. Schuester could remember all too well from when he'd been present alongside Emma, Finn's mother, and Finn's adoptive father to watch the operation, it had been a miracle that Finn had managed to survive long enough to make it through the operation and live to tell the tale.

Now, Mr. Schuester remembered all too well how lucky he'd been that he'd even gotten the chance to meet up with Finn alive and in person one week after the fateful day of the shooting and operation. And he now felt even guiltier at how little effort he'd put in to keeping in touch with him or any of his other prior students that he'd taught in between Finn's generation and his current one. "I should be better than this," he thought to himself guiltily. "What if he'd died that day? Hell, what if one of the others had similarly become unavailable for me to ever see or talk to again? What kind of teacher or friend would I have been to any of them then?" He sighed. "I really need to meet up with Finn and my other previous students again some time. I've got to."

Then Mr. Schuester remembered another detail that, while considerably more positive in the immediate light, was also one that he would have done well to remember right now, especially considering how he'd teased the possibility of it to his current students only the previous day. "Finn was planning on setting up a reunion here in Lima between him and as many of my other previous students he knew personally that he could successfully contact and invite."

As Mr. Schuester had this thought, he went over the details and the times in his head. "He said that he'd planned to wait until he was released from the hospital and had spent a few months getting settled back into his life outside the hospital before he got directly to work on setting up for the possible New Directions reunion. And it's been about two months since he was discharged from the hospital." He thought to himself some more. "Would that have been about the right amount of time he'd have needed before he felt ready to get started on that task? If not, then how much longer does he need to wait? How much longer can _I_ wait? And if it was enough time, then why hasn't he called to let me here of any news or developments?"

The teacher sighed once more. All these thoughts and wonderings he was currently having were now starting to run the risk of putting a real damper on his mood. But even so, he couldn't help but feel like he truly needed to have these thoughts and wonder about all these matters. "What if I've missed something important?" he thought to himself. "What if some horrible negative development has unfolded and some cruel twist of fate has completely prevented me from having any idea about it? What if so much time goes by that I completely forget about the possibility of this reunion, or about Finn, or about any of my other previous students from this club that came before my current group?" What if . . .?" He lifted his head, sighed, and shook his head side to side. "What if I never see or talk to any of them ever again?"

He looked over at the area where the plaque with the picture and engraved quote of Lilian Adler was positioned alongside a picture and engraved quote of Finn's as well as several photos depicting group shots of the New Directions from various incarnations of its long, troubled, dramatic, but nonetheless wonderful and joyous existence. Then he sighed. "I've gotten so busy with making sure that I keep on allowing this club to have new students for me to teach and add to the collective 'family' of New Directioneers over all these years. Maybe I've truly lost sight of how I should be working just to hard not to lose sight of and connections with all the other members that I already have within this family."

The teacher hung his head yet again. At that moment, he now couldn't help but remember one particular topic that his erstwhile on-again, off-again rival, Coach Sue Sylvester had brought up in her crusade against him more than once over the course of their 25 or so years of tense conflict and temporary alliances. Usually, he was able to brush aside a large number of her negative comments about him; for a large majority of them he either knew for a fact or at least had strong confidence were not true. But some quotes, particularly the one he now had on his mind, were considerably easier to dismiss in the heat of the moment then they were to stay dismissed over time. This particular topic involved how he often seemed to lionize and give an unfairly large share of attention to some students while leaving others to fade into obscurity in the background and seem like little more than membership fodder that served little other purpose then to provide him with the required number of members needed to be allowed to compete. And as much as he hated to admit it aloud, especially within hearing range of Sue Sylvester herself, times like these were moments in which he couldn't help but privately admit to himself that there were times when the cheerio coach had a glaringly valid point.

Already he could remember with a cruel clarity several students from past New Directions generations that he'd directed noticeably less attention to compared to others. In fact, he could now think of five immediate examples that had been present amongst what he considered to be the very first generation. He thought about Rory Flanagan, the awkward foreign exchange student from Ireland who'd only lived in America, let alone been a student at McKinley High and member of the New Directions, for a single year before being deported in the summer following the year of the club's very first Nationals victory. He thought about Sugar Motta, daughter of the former CEO of the Motta Pianos music store company franchise with a notoriously awful singing ability. He thought about Joe Hart, the ardent Christ crusader with hair that he'd always insisted be styled in dreadlocks. He thought about Lauren Zizes, the freakishly muscular and strong girl who'd to date been the only female member of the McKinley High wrestling club in the school's history and for a time dated Puck. He even thought about Matt Rutherford, the 12th student ever to become a full-on member of the club that had paradoxically never gotten the chance to leave too big of a lasting impact, not to mention had rarely ever even talked that much to any of the other gleeks of his time aside from a small group of individuals before ending up getting transferred in the summer between the club's first and second years of existence.

The teacher shook his head side to side. In the current situation, and with the current thoughts he was having, he was not ashamed to privately admit to himself that he was now once again unintentionally proving Sue Sylvester at least partially right. And to make matters worse, he'd now unwittingly allowed himself to reach the point that he was now starting to allow even the students he'd given the undeniable lion's share of attention, glory, and big ticket performances to during their respective tenures as New Directioneers to become at risk of suffering the ignominy of fading into obscurity deep within the deepest, darkest, and most difficult to reach corners of his mind in favor of all the fresh and brand new members of the younger, fresher, and hipper generations that he'd been allowing to consistently come into the picture and into their footsteps with hardly so much as a batting of an eye. And with those thoughts in mind, he now couldn't help but wonder, what if Finn himself had perhaps come to start considering and thinking about these matters himself and potentially decided that maybe his former teacher didn't even truly deserve the honor of being allowed to meet up with him or any of the other members of the considerably large number of former New Directioneers that had amassed over all these years.

Then Mr. Schuester remembered Finn's friendly and trusting smile, the gleam he'd always gotten in his amber-brown eyes when happy, and how honest, loyal, friendly, dependable, and trustworthy he'd always been. He remembered how Finn always gave it his all, no matter what, and how he refused to give up in the face of adversity, regardless of the odds, and not even if he reached the point that he had to be given a reminder and reassurance from others in the face of doubt before once again reverting to his usual confidence. But most of all, he now remembered how Finn had promised him during that visit in the hospital two months ago that he _would_ find a way to make it possible for a reunion between himself, his former teacher, and as many former New Directioneers he knew personally that he could find and successfully invite possible. Furthermore, he remembered how this promise had been reaffirmed thrice now over the course of the days that had followed the hospital visit; the first time occurring when Finn had celebrated and attended that summer's 4th of July celebration alongside Mr. Schuester and both of their immediately available family members, the second time occurring when he had hung out at Finn's house exactly one week before the first day of school for both of them to help his former student make sure they were both well prepared for when that fateful day of new beginnings came, and the third time being the evening of the very first day of the school term when he had called Finn and informed him of the new generation of New Directions and how excited he was to get started on properly working with them as their teacher and glee club leader. And upon remembering all that, Mr. Schuester remembered, without a doubt, how Finn was not at all the type of person to engage in the behavior that he'd just now worried about him being capable of, and how the gentle giant that had served as the very first true male lead of the New Directions was a man of his word, and that he _would_ fulfill his promise to make the reunion possible. Come Hell or Highwater, nothing short of death would have even the _slightest_ chance of causing Finn to go back on his word. And with that knowledge, Mr. Schuester immediately felt better, confident, and happy once more; for he knew that he would wait for Finn and whatever other former New Directioneers managed to get involved to come to him for the reunion, no matter what happened or how long he had to wait. He would wait for them, simple as that.

The teacher turned around, an idea now on his mind, and resolutely marched over to the piano. He now knew just the song to perform right there in the choir room all to himself before the time came for him to leave the room and prepare for his next class to teach in American History. And perform it he did, right there at the piano with his usual flawless skill at both singing and piano playing, and all with a smile on his face. And even better, as he was playing and singing, he couldn't help but feel as if he were seeing and hearing phantom versions of all 16 of the gleeks who'd comprised the club's membership during the 2011-2012 school year singing alongside and dancing alongside him and his piano playing, not to mention of the three boys who'd served as the original drummer, guitarist, and bassist to work alongside the New Directions for the club's first four years of existence providing additional phantom accompaniment to his piano playing. The song in question went something like this:

 _I never felt nothing in the world like this before  
Now I'm missing you and I'm wishing that you would come back through my door  
Why did you have to go?  
You could have let me know  
So now I'm all alone.  
Girl you could have stayed but you wouldn't give me a chance  
With you not around it's a little bit more than I can stand  
And all my tears they  
Keep running down my face  
Why did you turn away?  
So why does your pride make you run and hide?  
Are you that afraid of me?  
But I know it's a lie what you keep inside  
This is not how you want it to be  
So baby I will wait for you  
'Cause I don't know what else I can do  
Don't tell me I ran out of time  
If it takes the rest of my life  
Baby I will wait for you  
If you think I'm fine it just ain't true  
I really need you in my life  
No matter what I have to do I'll wait for you  
It's been a long time since you called me  
(How could you forget about me)  
You got me feeling crazy (crazy)  
How can you walk away,  
Everything stays the same  
I just can't do it baby  
What will it take to make you come back  
Girl I told you what it is and it just ain't like that  
Why can't you look at me,  
You're still in love with me  
Don't leave me crying.  
Baby why can't we just start over again?  
Get it back to the way it was  
If you give me a chance I can love you right  
But you're telling me it won't be enough  
So baby I will wait for you  
'Cause I don't know what else I can do  
Don't tell me I ran out of time  
If it takes the rest of my life  
Baby I will wait for you  
If you think I'm fine it just ain't true  
I really need you in my life  
No matter what I have to do I'll wait for you  
So why does your pride make you run and hide  
Are you that afraid of me?  
But I know it's a lie what you're keeping inside  
That's not how you want it to be  
Baby I will wait for you  
Baby I will wait for you  
If it's the last thing I do  
Baby I will wait for you  
'Cause I don't know what else I can do  
Don't tell me I ran out of time  
If it takes the rest of my life  
Baby I will wait for you  
If you think I'm fine it just ain't true  
I really need you in my life  
No matter what I have to do I'll wait for you  
I'll be waiting._

 _(Phantom!New Directions Alumni: For you.)_

For what seemed like an eternity, Mr. Schuester remained tensed into the exact position he'd been in when he'd hit the final note for his performance. Then the teacher finally let a happy smile come on his face, and he relaxed out of the position. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled in content, still feeling happy. "The day will come," he thought to himself. "Sooner or later, one way or another, Finn will come through. The New Directions reunion he promised _will_ happen. Because Finn is my friend, my student, my son in all but name, and most of all a man of his word." He got up from his seat at the piano and resolutely departed from the choir room to head to the room where he taught his American History lessons, either not noticing or just not caring about how the phantom clones of his 16 earliest successful former students and original jazz band affiliates had silently faded from existence not too long after the end of his performance.

"And I know that Finn will most certainly not be the only former student of mine from the earlier generations of New Directioneers to attend this reunion at some point or other," he thought to himself. And indeed, the teacher felt very much like he knew this possibility would, for a fact, be proven true. "Like Finn, they are my friends, my students, my children in all but name, men and women of their word, and most importantly, regardless of how much attention I gave them or how little I deserve to still be in their good graces in light of giving them lower levels of attention, true, loyal, and proud New Directioneers." He lifted his head high, fist raised in confidence, and a determined and proud look of joy on his face. "For through thick and thin," the teacher thought to himself. "We are all truly a family; a family in all but blood. And just like I said about the glee club itself during the New Directions' first year of existence, what truly defines family is what's in your heart, not what courses through your veins."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Here's me hoping that you all read and enjoyed it! Especially after the Hell long wait I put you through since the last update. That being said, here's to also hoping you leave plenty of reviews (and be as concise, OR as detailed, as you wish). Remember, I require an exact MINIMUM of 2 reviews for this new chapter before I will allow for the posting of the next chapter. Get it? Got it? Good. Again, hope you all enjoyed and leave plenty of feedback ^_^.**

 **Song Used:**

 **Wait for You - Elliot Yamin - Performed by William Schuester.**

 **Coming up Next: Daniel winds up meeting up with Zach in the hallway on the way to lunch . . . and the two supposed 'best friends' have some words to say to each other. Later on, not only does Daniel manage to make major leaps and bounds of progress in his work at befriending the other savory gleeks of the current generation of New Directioneers, but the entire group in question manages to successfully go through with Mr. Schuester's request from the previous chapter. Question is, just what sort of outcome will unfold for the gleeks as a result of this daring endeavor? Find out next time (whenever that may be) on GWAF - A New Generation is Born.**


	9. A Promotion of Interest

**Hey ya'll! MAN I took WAY too long! AGAIN GOD DARN IT! Well no matter; on the bright side, we now finally have a new chapter to read ^_^. And in this long awaited new chapter, Daniel and Zach have a little 'talk' on the way to lunch. And at lunch, the New Directions get their request from Mr. Schuester done and over with. Question is, just what will the end result be for our favorite new generation of gleeks where their current audience is concerned? Ready to find out? Read on! Here's me hoping you enjoy and leave plenty of feedback! ^_^**

 **A/N: But first, real quick, I own neither Glee nor the song that is featured in this chapter. Now that that's out of the way, let's get reading shall we? :)**

 **Chapter 9:**

 **A Promotion of Interest**

A couple of hours later, Daniel was walking by himself through the McKinley High School hallways; making his way to the cafeteria to both have lunch and hopefully meet up with Diana and the other nine New Directioneers that he currently hoped to form lasting friendships with. Admittedly, he was still on guard for the possibility of Charlotte making another attempt at him despite getting sent running away screaming with her metaphorical tail between her legs not too long after the glee club's recess session. And of course, he also still had the unpleasant matter involving Zach still weighing glaringly heavily on his mind. But for now, he was willing to put those two matters on relatively lower priority for the sake of preparing himself for hopefully both strengthening his potential new friendships as well as perhaps fulfilling Mr. Schuester's request alongside them all during lunch. "Just think on the bright side," he thought to himself. "Yes things could be better. But hey, they could just as easily be worse." He let a smile come on his face as he thought of another important detail. "And besides, would Finn Hudson let a little bit of adversity like this stop him? No, he would not. And that's a fact."

As he had these thoughts, he let his smile widen and brighten to an especially large length and level of happiness. "Yeah," he thought to himself, "I'm not gonna let a little extra adversity then I was expecting bog me down and ruin this good day. No sir. Not at all."

"Hey there buddy."

Daniel came to a stop so suddenly that the stock sound of a car screeching to a stop would have not at all been out of place. After what seemed like an eternity, time finally restarted for Daniel, and he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth at the sound of the voice that had just now caused him to stop. "Damn you Zach," he thought to himself. "Did you really have to catch me _now_ of all times?"

With a heavy mental sigh, Daniel turned around to face Zach, who was standing a couple feet behind the quarterback with a smile on his face. Putting on as convincing (though weak) a smile as he could manage, Daniel managed to say, "Hey Zach."

Zach chuckled, seemingly not at all aware of Daniel's not entirely happy air. "Man, it's so good to see you right now." He scratched the back of his head. "Boy, it sure is fun to be in the glee club, isn't it?"

Daniel let his smile become slightly more genuine upon hearing this question. He could definitely at least agree on that bit. "You can say that again," Daniel responded.

Zach chuckled once more. "Well, I suppose it's off to lunch we go."

The two boys resumed their walking in the direction of the cafeteria. As they did so, Zach continued to have an absolutely slap happy grin on his face while Daniel continued to appear in a mixture of indifference and unease.

Zach soon chuckled. "I daresay today's been a good day so far."

Daniel smiled nervously. "You could say that," he stated.

Zach chuckled again, seemingly oblivious to Daniel's tone of voice. "I'll admit, I'm definitely having a good day today; doubly so considering some not entirely pleasant events that unfolded directly before I left school yesterday."

At this point, even though he managed to keep on walking alongside Zach, Daniel otherwise felt as if all time had stopped. Heart in his mouth, he eventually managed to ask, "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing too bad," Zach responded. He shook his head side to side. "Let's just say, I decided to try to move onto an eligible girl that I hadn't yet attempted, and for once I got turned down. It's not too bad though; I suppose, statistically speaking, this would have to happen at some point or other."

 _That_ was enough to get Daniel to stop walking. Zach walked ahead another couple feet before he noticed Daniel's pause, prompting him to come to a stop as well. The African American boy turned his head towards Daniel, eyebrow raised in confusion. "Um Daniel?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

Daniel took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Best get it over with," he thought to himself. He lifted his head to face Zach. "This girl you're talking about," the Caucasian boy began. "Was it Susan Caraway by any chance?"

Zach's eyes widened, and he gaped at Daniel, utterly floored into silence by the unexpected question, as well as the equally unexpected fact that Daniel had guessed _correctly_ on only the first try without having received any indication about any detail regarding the girl in question that he'd been describing. For what seemed like an eternity, Zach found himself struggling to think up a way to properly respond. Unfortunately, his long silence turned out to be enough of an answer for Daniel.

The quarterback facepalmed. "God in Heaven," he groaned. He lowered his hand and stared straight at the still stunned Zach. "What has gotten into you? Look man, getting turned down? I can totally understand that you'd be under the weather." He spread his hands and arms out to his sides as if in exasperation. "But seriously? Arranging for that undignified cult of yours to gang up on her and trying to force yourself upon her after school yesterday? And after Calvin had already made it crystal clear that Susan was off limits no less? What is wrong with you?"

Zach, however, completely missed out on the last two questions. He was already stunned and wide-eyed enough now by the reveal that Daniel was apparently aware of the exact nature of his stunt involving Susan the previous day. "How'd you know about that?!" he blurted out, only to then gulp and slap his hands over his mouth, belatedly realizing that his latest comment had just now confirmed Daniel's words.

Daniel's gray eyes narrowed upon hearing this. "Calvin and Susan told me and Diana about it this morning on the way to class." He folded his arms across his chest. "And before you start irrationally blaming my second in command, I'll have you know that I would have probably found out about this even if Calvin _hadn't_ been the one to tell me. After all, I would have eventually learned it from Diana not too long after she'd heard the news from Susan herself."

Zach mentally winced, having completely forgotten the small detail of Susan and Diana being close gal pals. "Look man," he managed to say. "I know this looks bad. . ."

"Yeah no shit!" Daniel snarled, and shook his head side to side. "And don't even get me started on how you've been practically harassing Bailey on the phone, or those mean-spirited pranks you pulled on Cody and Raj yesterday, or on the abuse you subjected the sophomore gleeks to this morning."

Zach's eyes widened once more. "WHO TOLD YOU THAT!?" He promptly winced, closing his eyes and mentally facepalming once more. "Darn it," he thought to himself. "That's twice I've put my foot in my mouth now. What is with me today?"

Daniel snorted, and rolled his gray eyes irritably. "Never mind who told me about all that," he hissed. He pointed his finger at Zach accusingly. "The real problem here is that you even did all those things at all! Jesus Christ man! What is the matter with you!? I thought you were better than this!"

Zach mentally winced, and he extended his hands and arms forward in an effort to placate his clearly enraged best friend. "Daniel, listen to me," he began. "There's a perfectly logical explanation for all this."

"There's a world of difference between logical and acceptable," Daniel snarled spitefully, not at all missing out on the fact that Susan herself had said this very line to him word for word that very morning. He folded his arms across his chest once more, angry snarl still on his face. "And I don't care how mean I'm gonna sound right now, but your recent behavior against most of our peers in the glee club is quite simply not acceptable."

"I'm just trying to look out for you man," Zach responded.

"How the fudge does bullying our fellow glee clubbers and treating them like shit qualify as looking out for me?!" Daniel roared.

Zach mentally winced again as Daniel's latest comment to him made it clear how he wasn't buying the excuse he'd made up to cover his real intentions behind his current actions. "Daniel please," he stated, trying his best to stay calm. "I know it looks bad, but I'm serious. I am honest to God, trying my absolute best to look out for you and your best interests."

"Let me ask you this again," Daniel growled. "Or better yet, I'll rephrase it. In what universe, does looking out for my best interests entail harassing, bullying, or similarly antagonizing other students that we barely even know and haven't even given you any reason for you to believe that they could pose any danger to me or my, quote-on-quote, best interests?" He very deliberately air quoted 'best interests'. "And for that matter, how does attempting to look out for my best interests have anything to do with, let alone _justify_ , attempting to _rape_ someone?!"

"Daniel," said Zach, but with a now noticeably tight voice. "You're really starting to get overdramatic here. . ."

"The Hell I am!" Daniel shouted. "You're the one who's suddenly made a complete and utter U-turn in personality and started antagonizing all the other people in this club we're in that I want to befriend and running the risk of soiling mine and Diana's credibility and reputation amongst them as both leaders and friends! Not to mention, that one girl that you tried to force yourself upon yesterday is one of Diana's best friends! I mean for God's sake Zach! Are you _trying_ to antagonize me and Diana?! We're supposed to be your friends!"

"We _are_ friends!" Zach shouted, now clearly just as angry as Daniel. "Look man, I'll admit, maybe I was a little out of line going after Diana's best gal pal. But regardless, there's really no need for you to get all flustered over this!" He pointed his finger at Daniel. "Trust me, you and Diana will thank me for all this someday! I mean come on! You wouldn't want to end up associating with the wrong sort now, would you?!"

"Who are you to decide whether any of the other students in the glee club alongside us are the wrong sort?!" Daniel yelled. He pointed his own finger at Zach, seething with increasingly difficult to contain rage. "You don't know them!"

"And you _do_?!" Zach countered.

"A Hell of a lot better than you!" Daniel countered. "And unlike you, I'm at least _trying_ to give them a chance and actually get to know them before making any important decisions or value judgments on them instead of just automatically assuming stuff about them based off superficial details or secondhand sources and dismissing them out of hand!"

"Well maybe I already know enough!" Zach shouted. "I mean come on! Sure I haven't hung out with them personally or gone to any of the effort you've apparently gone to recently. But the people I have hung out with have told me plenty about them; and trust me, their judgment and advice are perfectly trustworthy!"

"And who would those people be?" Daniel asked coldly. "The cheerios? Those assholes on the hockey team? The cowards in the baseball team? Or any of the other 'high caste' students?"

"What's it to you?" Zach spat. "You're already prejudiced enough about all of our peers on that level as it is."

Daniel snarled. "I've told you a million times, _including_ yesterday." He took a deep breath, and exhaled angrily. "But spending large amounts of time directly around people, not to mention just relying strictly on what other people say about someone, doesn't automatically make you a 100% perfect judge of their character!"

Daniel leaned forward, fists clenched in rage. "It's like they always say Zach! You can't judge a book by its cover! You have to read the pages! And apart from Diana, I'm the only one amongst the three of us who's even bothering to _look_ at the pages the other members of the glee club have to offer; let alone _read_ them!"

Zach growled, now too angry at Daniel's continued rebuttals against him as well as how, deep down, he knew that Daniel was actually _right_ , to even think want to continue this current branch of their argument. "Well even so, surely you can admit that there are other students around here, especially amongst our own caste, who'd make much better choices of friends then all those nobodies you're getting all twisted up over!"

"And what's wrong with befriending students who aren't in the same student hierarchy level as me? Huh? You don't know them! And not to mention," he lifted his finger to emphasize his point, "Diana's in the same level as all the gleeks you've just recently been bullying, and you've never given me any grief over that!"

"That's different," said Zach. "You've known her since long before this point." It took all of one second after saying this comment for Zach to realize the very unpleasant implications behind it.

Daniel was clearly aware of these implications as well, as his already angry look turned downright murderous. "So, you're saying that if Diana wasn't already my friend right now, you'd be bullying her and giving me grief over trying to befriend her _to_?!" Zach winced, mentally cursing himself for yet again digging himself deeper. Before he could respond, Daniel turned his head and raised his right hand towards Zach in a very dismissive looking gesture. "You know what? Don't answer that. I don't even want to know."

"Well never mind that," Zach snapped. "My point still stands! There's God knows how many other students around here, especially in your own social class, who'd be so such better choices of people for you to befriend right now! God knows how long you've kept blowing off your chances with them!"

Daniel narrowed his eyes, his gray eyes burning hatefully. "You know who you're starting to sound like?" he hissed. " _Charlotte_. That's who."

"Well maybe Charlotte has a point!" Zach shouted.

"Maybe _Charlotte_ ," Daniel damn near growled, "isn't the 100% perfect, do-no-wrong, goddess you seem to think she is!" He pointed his finger at Zach once more. "And maybe, just _maybe_ , all those assholes amongst the jocks and cheerios who aren't on the basketball team aren't the ideal better choices of friends for me that you seem so Hellbent on blinding yourself into believing they are!"

"And who are you to say all that about them!?" Zach yelled. "You don't know them!"

"Oh, you couldn't be more wrong," Daniel hissed. "I may not hang out in their company to the degree that you do. But unlike you, I actually pay attention to how they behave and what they say. And through all that, I know enough about them to be more than capable of accurately judging their character. And thanks to that, I know, for a _fact_ , that they are _exactly_ as untrustworthy as I say they are." He leaned forward threateningly, gray eyes still burning with rage. "How many times do I have to say this to you Zach? I've known this and been telling you about it since middle school. Since elementary school even!" He pointed his finger at Zach. "And you'd have noticed it to and been just as aware of it as me if you weren't so busy always ogling and spacing out over every attractive single girl that moves to the point that you're always treating their backsides like your own personal television, making mental scrapbooks out of their breasts, and daydreaming about how they might look when they're naked or how satisfactory they'd be as bedding partners!"

If Zach had been angry before, he was downright _livid_ now. "Making this personal, are we?" he hissed.

"You already made this personal by taking those potshots at Diana not too long ago!" Daniel barked.

Zach narrowed his eyes, and then proceeded to lean towards and point his finger at Daniel. "Well you need to calm the heck down!" He gestured towards thin air with his left hand. "Because as ungrateful as you're currently acting, that doesn't change the fact that I at least seem to care about your best interests enough to look out for them and you!"

"And that's another problem!" Daniel snapped at the top of his lungs. "Contrary to your belief, there's an actual difference between looking out for someone's best interests and being selfish. And right now, what you're doing is being selfish! And that's not even taking into account the fact that you're going so far as to risk breaking your own moral code when it comes to Susan, who I'll remind you _again_ , is Diana's best gal pal!"

"You're being overemotional," Zach growled.

"NO!" Daniel roared. " _You're_ being selfish!"

"What's so selfish about looking out for my best friend's best interests!?" Zach snarled.

"Going at it strongly enough to treat me like a child and risk ruining my own life in favor of your own damn happiness, that's what!" Daniel howled. He lifted his hands and arms in the air to emphasize his point, as well as showcase how exasperated he was now getting. "Maybe I don't _need_ you hovering over me and trying to forcibly take control of my life 24/7! This isn't freaking preschool Zach! I'm not a baby! I'm not a toy that needs to be always handled delicately for fear of breaking! I'm not some stupid puppet made of yarn or wood that you can stick your hand up the ass of or force to dance around while you pull the strings! I'm not some robot that runs on batteries that are in constant need of changing! I'm not some mindless ant that's physically and utterly dominated by your will!"

Daniel pointed his right finger at himself, his face now seemingly frozen in a silent snarl of fury. "I AM A PERSON ZACH! I AM 16-YEARS OLD! I AM IN MY JUNIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL! I AM MADE OF FLESH AND BLOOD! I HAVE A BEATING AND PUMPING HEART INSIDE ME THAT'S KEEPING ME ALIVE! I HAVE A MIND OF MY OWN! AND I CAN MAKE MY OWN DAMN DECISIONS ABOUT HOW I LIVE MY OWN FREAKING LIFE!"

He pointed his finger at Zach. "AND I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH GRIEF YOU GIVE ME OVER IT OR HOW MUCH YOU BULLY THEM ALL, BUT I AM _GOING_ TO BEFRIEND ALL THE OTHER STUDENTS CURRENTLY IN THE GLEE CLUB ALONGSIDE ME APART FROM CHARLOTTE, AS WELL AS ANYONE ELSE I DAMN WELL WANT! I AM _GOING_ TO LIVE MY LIFE THE WAY _I_ WANT TO! BECAUSE GUESS WHAT ZACH, _I_ AM PERFECTLY FINE AND HAPPY WITH _ALL_ MY LIFE CHOICES SO FAR! AND NOT ONLY ME EITHER! MY PARENTS ARE FINE WITH THEM! DIANA IS FINE WITH THEM! ALL THE OTHER GLEE CLUB MEMBERS THAT YOU'RE SO INTENT ON BULLYING ARE FINE WITH THEM! COACH BIESTE IS FINE WITH THEM! YOUR BUDDIES ON THE BASKETBALL TEAM ARE FINE WITH THEM! MY ENTIRE FAMILY IS FINE WITH THEM! AND THE ONLY PEOPLE I KNOW THE NAMES OF WHO AREN'T FINE WITH THEM THAT I GIVE ENOUGH OF A DAMN ABOUT TO EVEN MENTION RIGHT NOW ARE CHARLOTTE AND, APPARENTLY, YOU!"

Zach gaped at Daniel, wide eyed, open mouthed, and likewise in shock. He was _that_ strongly affected by how utterly _slammed_ he'd just now been by Daniel's tirade. For what seemed like an eternity, Zach continued to remain speechless with shock as Daniel heavily breathed in and out, snarling in lingering rage and glaring hatefully at his supposed best friend. Eventually, the gray eyed boy snorted, and shook his head side to side, still glaring hatefully at the supposed friend who'd now given him so much grief. He sighed irritably. "I am done with this." He turned around to face the direction leading towards the cafeteria and started stomping off down that way once more, just as he'd been heading before his talk with Zach had begun.

At that moment, Zach finally snapped out of his blue screen of shock. "Daniel wait," he began.

"I already told you," Daniel hissed. "I'm done with this."

"Daniel, come on," said Zach.

"Just leave me alone!" Daniel shouted, now practically sprinting as he continued to angrily storm away.

Long after Daniel stormed out of his sight and hearing range, Zach remained standing where he was. He gulped, now no longer feeling angry, but instead now feeling guilty. He hung his head. "Have I gone too far?" he thought to himself. "Is my current effort at winning Charlotte over alienating the friends I already have? Could success at winning Charlotte's heart in this fashion come at the cost of Daniel's friendship with me?"

For what seemed like an eternity, Zach thought to himself. Then he shook his head side to side, an uncertain look still on his face, and he then spoke that sounded far more as if he were trying to convince himself of what he was saying then of him truly believing what he was saying. "No," he said with clear uncertainty. "I could never go that far. Never. Daniel's my friend. He'll always be my friend. He'll definitely forgive me after I'm finished and I've dropped my façade and reverted back to my real personality in full. And so, will Diana. And all those other gleeks will give me a chance with Daniel and Diana. Everything will be fine. I could never cross a line sufficiently enough to truly ruin my friendship with Daniel and Diana or any of those other people in glee club I haven't even truly befriended yet. Right?" With this shaky decision made, Zach slowly resumed his trip through the halls to reach the cafeteria. But even as he continued to walk, he still couldn't get his current uncertainty off his mind. For as much as he wanted to believe that his friendship with Daniel and Diana was strong enough to survive his current attempts at winning over Charlotte, he just could not shake off that one tiny voice in his mind that was very glaringly refusing to let him forget the now very chilling and real possibility of him being wrong about this assumption; and of what sort of cost would come to him from successfully winning Charlotte over in the way he was currently attempting.

. . . . .

A little while later, during lunch at the cafeteria, Zach still couldn't fully get these unpleasant thoughts off his mind. It had now quite frankly only been by a miracle that he'd successfully eaten his lunch. Even now, all the other basketball players, plus all the other jocks and cheerleaders seated at the de facto cluster of tables for the 'high caste' students were busy eating, chatting, and likewise acting like they were in a good mood, Zach himself was very noticeably silent and seemingly numb.

At the same time, though, Zach also couldn't help but pay attention to what was going on at a small cluster of tables a good yard or so away from the 'high caste' group. At this cluster of tables, Zach saw none other than Daniel, Diana, and the nine glee club members that he hadn't yet bothered to put too much effort in getting to know just yet, plus Hobbes, gathered around together. And from what he could see alone, he could tell that they were all happy and having a good time.

What Zach didn't know was that Charlotte was watching this particular cluster of tables as well. Unlike Zach, however, she had all her focus placed on Daniel and every single one of his interactions with Diana. The latter object of focus was now responsible for a _very_ angry looking glare that was now firmly stuck upon her face.

Naturally, out of the two of them, Zach was the only one who was paying enough attention to hear what Daniel and his 10 table mates were saying, and what he was hearing was not making him feel any better.

. . . . .

Daniel, by contrast, was now in a very good mood. Granted, his current misgivings about Zach and the tense argument that had unfolded not too long ago were still on his mind. But even so, Daniel felt very happy now to be hanging around and chatting with Diana and his 11 fellow glee club members that he hoped very much to befriend. The other glee club members, likewise, seemed happy and getting along well in his company. Out of all of them, however, Diana, Calvin, and Susan were by far the happiest.

Diana unconsciously placed her arm over Daniel's shoulders, sighing in content. "It sure is nice to have a change of scenery for lunch, isn't it?" she asked innocently when her friend turned his head in response to the contact upon his shoulders.

Daniel smiled, and nodded his head. He could remember how he'd typically chosen to reluctantly sit at the cluster of tables where the jocks and cheerios sat, albeit, amongst the basketball players instead of any of the cheerios or football players, for virtually every school day before this one. He had to admit, he certainly had become considerably more confident in his own ability and less ashamed to be different from the other jocks within a mere two days of joining the glee club. "It sure is," he then responded, proceeding to unconsciously start stroking his fingers through Diana's hair. Diana smiled, closed her eyes, laid her head down on Daniel's shoulder, and hummed contentedly in a way that would have almost certainly been a happy purring if she'd been a cat.

At this moment, Calvin and Susan, having managed to catch sight of the unconscious behaviors Diana and Daniel had performed towards each other and heard Diana's humming that sounded almost like purring, looked each other in the eyes, the exact same blank look of disbelief in their eyes that silently said, 'How the Hell do they not see that they both dig each other?'. Bailey, Cody, Raj, and the four sophomore gleeks, likewise shook their heads with similarly disbelieving looks on their faces as to how Daniel and Diana were acting so clearly romantic towards each other while still being completely oblivious to the fact that they were both so clearly showing signs of affection towards each other. Even Naomi, as blind as she was, could sense the attraction. In fact, even _Hobbes_ , could sense the matter, and had a canine equivalent of similar disbelief on his own face as he shook his head side to side from his position on the floor to the right of his master's chair.

Daniel looked over at the other gleeks. "So, how has everything been going today? Has Zach bothered any of you again today?"

The other gleeks all snapped out of their bemusement over Diana and Daniel's current dynamic, and they thought carefully about what had happened at school that day between the recess glee club session and lunch. "To tell you the truth," said Bailey. "I don't think he's bothered any of us anymore today." She drew out her phone and looked it over. "He hasn't even sent me any more of those asinine texts since the last time he did it this morning."

"That's certainly good news," said Cody.

"No kidding," Raj agreed. At that point, both Asian Americans were too relieved about both Zach's apparent cessation of his annoying behavior towards Bailey and his abstaining from annoying them any further today then he had the previous day to care about how they had yet again been in a rare moment of agreement.

The four sophomore gleeks, meanwhile, certainly weren't about to make any effort to complain about this moment of peace between the two feuding Asian Americans. "All good on our end," said Dunlap. He placed his left arm comfortingly over Naomi's shoulders, the ginger haired girl smiling at the contact and clasping her own left hand around Dunlap's hand that was now dangling near her left shoulder; but not without maintaining an extremely tight grip on her cane from her right hand.

"Same here," Darren agreed. He looked over at Amber, his face silently asking out of concern to be sure. "At least I think so anyway . . ."

Amber placed her hand on the ginger haired boy's shoulder, her black eyes warm with a reassuring smile. "I'm fine," she said. "I appreciate the sentiment and care Darren; I really do. But really, I'm ok now."

"You sure?"

Amber sighed patiently. "Yes Darren. I'm sure."

"If you say so."

"For those of you who were wondering," Calvin broke in, keen now on directing attention away from Amber's state of mind and preventing her from getting overly annoyed, "things have been good on mine, Susan, and Hobbes's end as well where Jerkanova's concerned." Hobbes let out a low snarl, and nodded his head up and down in apparent agreement.

Susan nodded her own head, and lifted her left fist with a firm expression on her face. "And thank God for that to."

The other gleeks all nodded their heads in agreement, Daniel and Diana almost reluctantly so. Then Diana's eyes widened as she seemingly had an important thought.

"You know," she said, "Now that we're all sitting here, I can't help but wonder if there's ever been a New Directions membership roster that has ever spent an entire year together always sitting at any one cluster of tables."

Daniel and the other gleeks all thought to themselves, silently noting that Diana had brought up a valid point. Even Hobbes appeared to become deep in thought on the matter. Now that they thought about it, they weren't entirely all that certain themselves if there in fact ever had been a case in which every gleek of any generation or roster from previous years had always sat together at an unspoken cluster of tables for every single school day of a McKinley High school term in which they'd been affiliated with the club. Try as they might, they could not think of any prior generation to have done so. "Honestly," Daniel eventually managed to say. "I'm not sure if even Mr. Schue would have any idea." The other gleeks all slowly nodded in agreement.

"Well," said Calvin. "I suppose there's always a first time for everything." He leaned backward, placing his hands together behind his head in the process. "I certainly don't see any harm in trying to get ourselves all at the point that we're all sitting together by default at an unspoken 'New Directions Table Cluster' over the course of our membership in the glee club." His eyes then narrowed. "Admittedly though," he growled, "I'd very much like for this to be a gradual process. And I do mean gradual." Immediately as he said that last sentence, he directed a pointed glare out of the corner of his eye towards the area of the 'jocks and cheerios cluster' where Charlotte was seated.

The other gleeks present alongside Calvin all looked towards Charlotte as well. And in that moment, they all silently agreed with Calvin that it would be best to let Diana's suggestion come to fruition at a gradual pace where the head cheerio was concerned.

"I certainly don't see any problem with that," said Diana.

"I hear you sister," said Bailey. "The longer it takes before _she_ shares valuable breathing space with us at our cluster of tables, the better."

"You can say that again Bailey," Cody agreed. He nodded his head. "And I'm not ashamed to say that this is a matter I'd be perfectly happy to agree with Raj about. After all, two people with a common goal may be able to accomplish a lot."

"Indeed," said Raj. He lifted his finger to emphasize the point in his next comment. "But two people with a common enemy can accomplish so much more."

"You got that right," said Darren.

"Amen," said all the other gleeks present at the cluster in unison.

At that moment, the relative silence in the air was broken by the sound of two cellphones going off in a way that indicated a text message. The phones in question turned out to belong to Calvin and Susan, who drew out their phones. They looked at the notifications that had shown up, and narrowed their eyes in unison.

"Seriously?" Calvin hissed. "You waited till _now_ to tell me about this?"

"For the love of God," Susan grumbled. She placed her phone next to her empty lunch plate, leaned her head back, and groaned. "Seriously mom?"

"What happened?" Diana asked, clearly concerned.

Susan groaned, straightened herself back up in her seat, and shook her head side to side. "According to this text I just got, my mom got caught up in something at work, and neither she nor my dad will be able to pick me up from school today at the usual time."

"Same with me," said Calvin, lifting his phone for good measure.

The four sophomores winced, and shook their heads side to side. "That's gotta suck," said Dunlap.

"Yeah, well, it could be worse," Calvin grumbled. He placed his phone down on the table. "As it stands, they're still planning to pick us up from school today. They'll just be later than usual now; that's all." He glared down at the phone and the offending text message. "Right now, my mom's just letting me know about the unexpected development and asking if it's alright for me to wait a little while longer after school before she arrives to take me and Hobbes home."

"Same basic principle on my end," said Susan. She rolled her eyes. "This would have been handy to know earlier."

"Well I'm sure it won't be that bad," said Diana, trying her best to avoid allowing things to become needlessly depressing or dramatic at the current moment. "Surely you've got something available to keep you busy or entertained while you're waiting?"

"Well yeah," said Calvin. "But it would be easier to do my homework and whatnot at a place where I have a table that I can properly spread my stuff out on and a chair to sit on." He gestured at his phone. "And according to my mom's text, the absolute latest time she could arrive to pick me up at this point will be at least a half hour or so past the time that the library and most of the other facilities at this school are closed."

"My mom shouldn't take as long as yours," said Susan. "At least not according to her message anyway." She reached for her phone. "I could ask her if it would be ok for you and Hobbes to tag along in the car with her and I when she picks me up. I'm sure she wouldn't mind, and I'm sure I could help you out in staying busy and entertained while we're waiting. . ."

"That may not be necessary either," said Daniel.

The other gleeks all looked over at Daniel. Diana, Calvin, and Susan seemed to be directing particularly intent looks at him. "What do you mean?" asked Calvin. Hobbes gave out a low whimper of apparent confusion and curiosity as well.

Daniel smiled as he continued to act as if he were typing something on his phone. "Just give me a minute or two to finalize things."

"What are you doing?" Susan asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Just a minute," Daniel said in an effort to reassure Susan. "My mom should reply soon. . . yes."

"What's going on?" Diana asked.

Daniel lifted his phone in an apparent act of triumph, smiling proudly in the direction of his and Diana's seconds in command. "Well guys," he stated, "I just got you a ride home."

Calvin and Hobbes raised their eyebrows. "And how might you have managed that?" the autistic boy asked.

"Simple." Daniel typed one last message and sent it in response to his mom's latest text, and then turned his phone off and slipped it back into his pants pocket. "Quick question Susan, has Diana ever told you anything about the system her mom and mine use for dropping us off at school and picking us up?"

Susan nodded her head. "Yes," she confirmed. "You are dropped off individually, but her mom and yours take turns in carpooling you two home after school. And if I remember correctly, Diana's mom does the carpooling on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays while yours does the carpooling on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

Calvin raised his eyebrow again, clearly still confused. "What does this have to do with . . .?"

"As of now," said Daniel, "I've just finished talking with my mom, and she'll be more than happy to let you, Susan, and Hobbes tag along with us in our carpool ride home."

The other gleeks were left stunned speechless for a solid three minutes. "I . . . I don't know what to say," said Susan.

"No kidding," said Calvin. He managed to look over at Daniel. "Thanks . . . I guess."

"No problem," said Daniel. "I mean hey, you're my friends now. Kind acts like this? That's what friends do."

"Ain't that the truth?" Diana asked, giving Daniel a playful light punch on the shoulder. Daniel chuckled and playfully swiped his hand back and forth towards Diana as if pretending to shoo her away, much to his now giggling friend's delight.

Susan now couldn't help but chuckle at the display. "Get a room you two."

Daniel and Diana promptly flushed from the embarrassment. "It's not like that!" they hissed in unison.

"You really didn't have to do this you know."

The other gleeks all looked at Calvin in confusion. "The ride business, I mean."

Susan slumped, a bemused 'really?' look on her face as she realized that Calvin still had his mind locked in on the previous topic of discussion and had completely missed out on the recent byplay between Diana and Daniel as a result.

Daniel, unabashed by this detail, chuckled, and nodded his head up and down. "I know." He smiled. "I'm just nice like that."

Calvin thought to himself, and then let a small smile come to his face as he remembered the similarly kind deed that Daniel had done for him earlier that very morning during the encounter with Miles and John. "True enough."

Daniel chuckled, and leaned back in the same relaxing fashion that Calvin had done not too long before the whole business with the phones and ride dilemma had unfolded. "Yep, still a pretty good day today."

"I suppose that's true," said Calvin. He picked up his phone. "And that being said, I'd best let my mom know that I've managed to get a ride home for the usual time."

"Me to," said Susan as she picked up her own phone to do the same. Daniel and seven of the other gleeks at the table chuckled in response to this.

Diana, meanwhile, now had something else on her mind. "How much time till lunch period ends?" she asked once the chuckling had ended and Calvin and Susan had sent their newest texts to their mothers.

The other gleeks all paused and thought to themselves. "Um . . .," Naomi managed to say. "I think about 15 minutes? Maybe 20?"

Diana thought to herself, and then nodded her head. "In that case," she then said before lifting her head to face all 10 of her peers present at the newly christened 'New Directions Table Cluster', a stern and focused look now on her face. "I do believe we have a small mini assignment to take care of for Mr. Schuester right now."

For a brief moment, the other gleeks were confused. Then, as one, their eyes all widened in varying degrees of shock, comprehension, and nerves as they all remembered exactly what it was that Diana was talking about.

"Oh yeah, that," said Daniel. He looked over at all the other gleeks apart from Diana. They all looked at him. Then Daniel looked over at Diana. "Now?" he asked.

Diana nodded her head up and down with her eyes closed. She opened them back up. "Now," she confirmed.

Daniel thought to himself, gulped, and then looked over at the other gleeks. They all thought to themselves. Then, one by one, they all slowly gulped, sucked it up, and nodded their heads up and down as well, clearly ready. All of them, that is, except for one person. "Do we really have to?" Calvin asked, still clearly nervous about the upcoming prospect of taking part in a live performance by the glee club in the cafeteria of all places. Hobbes, as a result of his instincts telling him of his master's current unnerved state, likewise now appeared uncertain.

Diana narrowed her eyes, now seeming to start to slightly lose patience. Susan placed her hand on Calvin's shoulder before Diana could run further risk of getting angry. "Calvin," the tanned skinned brunette said in a clear tone of sympathy. "I know it's rather early in the game for you to be comfortable enough yet to perform in any environment that isn't traditionally built or fitting with custom for performing." She gestured towards the other 9 gleeks sitting with her, Calvin, and Hobbes. "But this? This is an important task for us all that Mr. Schuester needs us to do. And you don't want to let him down; do you?"

Calvin thought to himself. "Well no . . ." he began tentatively.

"And furthermore," Susan began, clearly meaning to take full advantage of her newfound position of being in the lead for the discussion. "You've performed in front of a large audience before without anything all that bad happening to anyone."

"That was different," said Calvin. "That was at a talent show. Which, I might add, is an environment deliberately built to be performance friendly." He gestured with his hand to indicate the entire cafeteria. "This is a cafeteria; not the standard place for a musical performance. And furthermore," he indicated all the other students in the area not affiliated with the glee club. "This audience? Nowhere near as guaranteed to be safe in how they treat performers. In this environment, it's perfectly fair game for them to throw food at us. And I may not have ever been personally involved in a food fight before, but I know enough about them from what I've seen and heard of them to know that all that needs to happen is for one student here to start throwing food, and the entire cafeteria's worth of students will have this place reduced to a complete and utter madhouse in seconds, with us smack dab in the thick of it."

"No one becomes a star by playing it safe," said Diana.

Calvin directed a narrow-eyed glare at Diana, only for Susan to quickly sooth him once more with a reinforcing of her grip on his shoulder. The autistic boy looked back at Susan.

"Calvin, please listen," the tanned skinned brunette began. "I understand that there's risks involved. But be honest Calvin, life is full of risks. It's the natural way of the world. Sad but true."

Calvin hung his head, grumbling slightly. "Yeah; that is true."

Susan nodded her own head in understanding. "And I know you're scared. Really, many people would be scared in this situation, or any similar ones to be honest." She gestured towards the entire cafeteria around them all. "But sometimes, the best solution to a problem is to just go on ahead and get it over with; that way, you'll both stop worrying about it and nullify any chances of it having time to potentially any more nerve-wracking or similarly worse off than it already is." She placed her other hand on top of the one already on Calvin's shoulder. "Trust me Calvin; don't you think it would be much better for you to get it over with right now then to risk allowing things to get worse? She gestured towards the other 9 gleeks sitting at the same table cluster as them. "Besides," she then said. "I'll be right there performing alongside you the entire time, and so will the rest of us who are sitting here at this table cluster, and possibly Hobbes." She spread her hands and arms sideways as if shrugging. "Who knows? Maybe if we're lucky, Captain Douche and Queen Whore will join in with us by some impossible miracle."

The other 9 gleeks at the table cluster promptly found themselves chuckling at the sound of this last sentence, with Hobbes quietly emitting his distinctive gurgling snorts. Even Calvin couldn't help but let a small smile reach his face alongside a slight chuckle of his own. "Well ok," he then said. "If you say so." He nodded his head with his eyes closed. Then he opened his eyes again to reveal a stern look now present. "But I'm telling you all right now," he began, "that if this heads south. . ." Calvin paused, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Don't blame me for whatever shit storm ends up befalling us in the aftermath of what I was willing to take the opportunity to avoid."

. . . . .

About four minutes later, all 9 of the gleeks in the group, plus Hobbes, were ready. Naturally, Diana had already decided upon a song based upon information she'd managed to learn about where the season's Nationals Championship would be occurring. The other gleeks had all agreed to it within mere seconds after learning exactly which song it was. For Calvin's sake, Diana had also decided that it would be best for them to just up and start singing without announcing their intent to sing or similarly calling attention to themselves before they'd begun their performance. And as it would turn out, even Zach and Charlotte ended up unexpectedly (though quite reluctantly in Charlotte's case) getting up from their seats and discreetly moving along to join up with their 11 peers in the club in time to take part in the performance as well. With the preparations out of the way, the group needed only to wait a further ten seconds for Calvin to take two deep breaths. Once that was taken care of, the relative silence was emphatically broken as the gleeks proceeded to begin their performance with a resounding call of the appropriate beginning vocalizations. The resulting performance that unfolded complete with all the gleeks involved moving about and vocalizing as needed and seen fit, went something like this:

 _(Calvin:)  
Yeah  
Yeah, I'm up at Brooklyn  
Now I'm down in Tribeca  
Right next to DeNiro  
But I'll be hood forever  
I'm the new Sinatra  
And since I made it here  
I can make it anywhere  
Yeah, they love me everywhere  
(Daniel:)  
I used to cop in Harlem  
All of my Dominicanos  
Right there up on Broadway  
Brought me back to that McDonald's  
Took it to my stash box  
Five-Sixty state-street  
Catch me in the kitchen  
Like a Simmons with them pastries  
(Zach:)  
Cruising down 8th street  
Off white Lexus  
Driving so slow but BK is from Texas  
Me, I'm up at Bed-Stuy  
Home of that boy Biggie  
Now I live on Billboard  
And I brought my boys with me  
Say what up to TyTy  
Still sipping Mai Tai's  
Sitting courtside  
Knicks and Nets give me high fives  
Jigga, I be spiked out (New Directions Girls: Come on)  
I can trip a referee (New Directions Girls: Come on)  
Tell by my attitude (New Directions Girls: Come on)  
That I most definitely from  
(Charlotte with New Directions (Zach):)  
In New York (From, hey, aha)  
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of (Yeah)  
There's nothing you can't do (Yeah)  
Now you're in New York (Diana: You're in New York) (Aha, aha, aha)  
These streets will make (with Diana: you feel brand new) (New)  
Big lights will (with Diana: inspire you) (Come on)  
Let's hear it for New York (You're welcome, old G)  
New York  
New York (I made you high, jigga)  
(Daniel (Susan):)  
Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game (Oh, ooh-wooh)  
Dude I made a Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can  
You should know I bleed Blue, but I ain't a crip, tho (Oh-ooh-woah)  
But I got a gang of brothers walking with my clique though  
Welcome to the Melting Pot (Whoa-ooh)  
Corners where we selling rocks  
Africa bambaataa, home of the hip hop  
Yellow cap, gypsy cap, dollar cab, holla back for foreigners  
It ain't for they act like they forgot how to act  
(Zach (Susan):)  
Eight million stories out there in it naked (Oh-wooh, woah)  
The city is a pity, half o' y'all won't make it  
Me, I got a plug Special Ed, "I Got It Made" (Woah-ooh-ooh)  
If Jesus payin' LeBron I'm payin' Dwayne Wade  
Three-dice Cee-Lo (Whoa, ooh-ooh)  
Three-card Marley  
Labor Day Parade  
Rest in peace, Bob Marley  
Statue of Liberty (Whoa) (New Directions: Come on)  
Long live the World trade (New Directions: Come on, yeah-eah)  
Long live the kingdom (New Directions: Come on, yeah-eah)  
I'm from the empire state from  
(Charlotte with New Directions (Zach):)  
New York (Diana: New York) (Hey)  
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of  
There's nothing you can't do (That won't do) (Susan: You can't do, oh)  
Now you're in New York (Diana: You're in New York) (Welcome to the bright lights, baby)  
These streets will make (with Diana: you feel brand new) (Susan: Brand new, baby)  
Big lights will (with Diana: inspire you)  
Let's hear it for New York (Susan: Oh)  
New York  
New York (Diana: Yeah, hey)  
(Calvin (Susan):)  
Lights is blinding (Oh-ooh, wooh)  
Girls need blinders  
So they can step out of bounds quick  
The side lines is (Oh-ooh, woah)  
Lined with casualties  
Who sipping life casually  
Then gradually become worse  
Don't bite the apple Eve (Uuh, ooh)  
Caught up in the in crowd  
Now your in-style  
End in the winter gets cold  
En Vogue with your skin out (Whoa, hoo)  
The city of sin is a pity on a whim  
Good girls gone bad  
The city's filled with them (Ooh, woah)  
(Daniel (Susan):)  
Mommy took a bus trip  
Now she got her bust out  
Everybody ride her  
Just like a bus route (Ooh-oh, oh)  
Hail Mary to the city, you're a virgin  
And Jesus can't save you  
Life starts when the church end (Yeah, yeah, yeah)  
Came here for school  
Graduated to the high life  
Ball players, rap stars  
Addicted to the limelight (Oh, whoa)  
Dub MHS got you feeling like a champion (New Directions: Come on, yeah-eah) (Oh, woah)  
The city never sleeps (New Directions: Come on)  
Better slip you an Ambien (New Directions: Yeah-eah)  
(Charlotte with New Directions (New Directions):)  
In (with Diana: New York) (Daniel: In, uh-huh)  
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of (Diana: Hey, yeah)  
There's nothing (with Susan: you can't do) (You can't do)  
Now you're in New York (Diana: You're in New York) (Susan: Yeah, yeah, eh)  
These streets will make (with Diana: you feel brand new) (Susan: New) (You feel brand new)  
Big lights will (with Susan and Diana: inspire you) (Inspire you)  
Let's hear it for New York  
New York (Susan: New York)  
New York (Diana: Yeah, hey)  
(Susan with New Directions Girls:)  
One hand in the air for the big city  
Street lights, big dreams all looking pretty  
No place in the world that could compare  
Put your lighters in the air  
(Daniel and Susan with New Directions:)  
Everybody say yeah, yeah (New Directions Girls: Come on, come on)  
Yeah, yeah (New Directions Girls: Come on)  
(Charlotte with New Directions (New Directions):)  
In (with Susan: New York) (Hobbes: Aroo!) (New York)  
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Susan: Jungle, yeah, yeah)  
There's nothing you can't do (Hobbes: Aroo!) (You can't do)  
Now you're in New York (Susan: New York, New York) (New York) (Hobbes: Aroo!)  
These streets will make you feel brand new (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Susan: Brand new) (Brand new)  
Big lights will (with Susan: inspire you) (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Inspire you)  
Let's hear it for New York (Susan: New York) (Hobbes: Aroo!)  
New York (Susan: New York) (Hobbes: Aroo!)  
New York (Susan: New York) (Hobbes: Aroo!)_

 _(Susan: Oh-ho-oh whoa oh)_

Immediately after Susan sang that last string of 'ohs', all 13 of the gleeks slowly came to a stop while emitting the final series of vocalizations designed to wind down and bring the performance to a close. Coincidentally, all 13 of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, found themselves positioned together in one large group in the dead center of the cafeteria. In the silence that ensued for what seemed like an eternity afterward, 12 of the gleeks seemed to be anticipating a potential positive response from the audience, and even had the appropriate facial expressions to convey such a hope. Calvin, however, who had spent almost the entire performance walking in the style of a t-rex was now both straightened up and slightly cringing with a nervous expression as if tensing himself up for a more negative response from the audience. Hobbes, thanks to the conflicting signals from his master and everyone else in the club, seemed uncertain of how to act and stood still in confusion.

As it would soon turn out, Calvin had been very wise to take the course of action that he'd chosen. For after the silence had gone on long enough, one random female student walked up towards the group, came to a stop right in front of Diana (who just happened to be in the very front and center of the group alongside Daniel), and proceeded to splatter her plate of spaghetti on Diana's shirt.

For another apparent eternity following this, every student in the cafeteria, gleek and otherwise, stared at Diana and the girl that had just now splattered her with spaghetti. Most of the students appeared stunned. The two notable exceptions were Charlotte (who was smirking) and Calvin (who was wincing). Hobbes, meanwhile, was now directing his confused look directly towards his master with a facial expression that clearly was his way of saying 'what do I do?'.

As Raj would have been happy to attest in less relatively perilous circumstances, the last food fight to occur at William McKinley High School before this day had happened three years ago, when Raj had been a freshman and the only current gleek amongst the school's student body. Thus, just as Calvin and Susan had been lucky enough to never be involved in a food fight in any way before now, Hobbes himself had never been involved in a food fight either. And because of his and Calvin's mutual lack of direct exposure to a food fight, Hobbes had never had the chance to learn how to react in the event of a food fight. Thus, Calvin, Hobbes, Susan, and the other gleeks now had no choice but to endure the upcoming food fight without being spared through a timely reaction from Hobbes.

Sure enough, just as Calvin had begun to suspect, all the other students who weren't amongst the 13 gleeks gathered in the center of the cafeteria gradually began to smile and smirk as they all came to a unified decision on what to do in response to that one girl's spiteful move. As one, they all started to prepare themselves for tossing food and similar behaviors. At that moment, while 11 of the gleeks proceeded to turn quite horrified and surprised, Charlotte's smirk became an outraged glare, and Hobbes directed a considerably more nervous and uncertain look towards Calvin then he had before, Calvin nodded his head and sighed resignedly; for he knew what was about to happen next. "Here we go."

In that instant, the autistic boy had just enough time to grimace with his eyes closed, pull the hood of his hoodie over his head, and bend his now hooded head downwards slightly as if to lessen the incoming impact before one of the freshmen students, a young ginger haired boy named Jeremy Ben-Israel stood up to his full height on the 'table bench' he'd been sitting on and yelled "Food fight!" And all of one second later, the entire cafeteria erupted into chaos as literally every single one of the students not affiliated with the glee club, out of spite or from being carried away in the heat of the moment, proceeded to start throwing their food helter skelter in every which way they could, with a sizable amount of it proceeding to splatter on the 13 gleeks and the now very bewildered German shepherd that would have otherwise never been so willingly antagonized. And in that instant, none of the gleeks cared about how long their performance had lasted or how much time was left for the lunch period. All they wanted now was for the current unpleasant situation they were in to end as swiftly as possible.

 **And just like that, another chapter complete! :) BOY I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, found it well worth the long wait, and leave plenty of feedback. As long as I receive an exact minimum of** ** _2_** **reviews by the time the next chapter is ready (however long that may take, though I do hope very much that it won't take too long, especially compared to this one), then the next chapter can be posted immediately upon completion, no trouble at all ^_^. Once again, hope you all enjoyed!**

 **Song Used:**

 **Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys - Performed by the New Directions**

 **Coming up next: The after school session of glee club is now in order. The gleeks themselves, however, are not happy. And after what just happened in the cafeteria, can you really blame them? Can a round of singing and work to fulfill the week's assignment get everyone back in good spirits? Find out next time! ^_^**


	10. Music is the Best Medicine

**Hey everybody! Good news! Here's a new chapter! ^_^ This one certainly take too long at all! Don't get too comfortable though. Future chapters could yet take longer. That being said, in this new chapter, the New Directions are, to put it simply, not at all happy with the way things went down in the cafeteria not too long ago. Fortunately, Mr. Schuester knows just the way to get everyone back in good spirits. Or does he? Let's find out shall we? Here's me hoping you read, review, and enjoy! ^_^**

 **A/N: Again, I do not own Glee, or any of the songs used in this chapter. Got that? Good. Onward we go!**

 **Chapter 10:**

 **Music is the Best Medicine**

"You think that slushies are a bad enough thing to get splattered in the face with for people associated with this club?"

A still somewhat messy Dunlap shook his head side to side, his red eyes practically glowing with rage. "Well guess what Mr. Schue; you're wrong." He pointed at his face and his now sauce covered and pepperoni dotted pale albino blonde hair, angry look still present. "Fresh pizza sauce, and on a pizza that's still hot? That's _much_ worse."

"You think _that's_ bad?" Darren asked in a mixture of anger and incredulity, all while still holding a tissue up to his left eye and trying to wipe at it. "I think I might have gotten some ketchup or mustard from one of those burgers that got thrown at me stuck between my left contact and my eyeball."

"To much information," Naomi grumbled, her already red hair and shirt almost completely indistinguishable from its natural coloring and the spaghetti sauce that it was now thoroughly drenched in.

"Don't be rude," said Amber, even though she herself still looked more than a little miffed from how she was still splattered with various food toppings herself, with a particularly hefty amount of mustard caking her shirt.

The other 9 gleeks, likewise, were in varying degrees of messiness leftover from the food fight. Admittedly, they'd all managed to somewhat clean off most of the gunk that had been on their faces and in their hair, but there was still enough leftover messiness on their clothing to allow for very real risk of some serious staining in the future. Hobbes, meanwhile, looked as if he were still very much in need of a bath, and had a look on his face that looked so unsettlingly murderous that it would not at all be surprising for him to burst into flames as a result of sheer rage.

Mr. Schuester, meanwhile, now couldn't help but wince as he took another close look at his messy students and listened to what the sophomores had just said. "I take it, things didn't go well at the cafeteria this afternoon."

"Wow," Cody hissed spitefully, briefly looking up from his work in cleaning up his glasses to direct a glare at the teacher. "What gave it away?"

Bailey and Raj both glared at Cody. The Korean American, seemingly either oblivious or just not caring about that detail, proceeded to snort and roll his eyes dismissively before looking back at his glasses and resuming his work at cleaning them.

Daniel snorted as well. "Understatement of the semester."

"No kidding," Diana grumbled, her arms folded across her chest and her green eyes seemingly locked in a venomous glare. "And it's still only the first full week of school this year."

At the sound of this, Mr. Schuester sighed. "Look guys, I get it, things aren't looking good for us right now. . ."

"Yeah, no shit," Susan hissed. She glowered downwards towards her still quite messy shirt. "This was one of my favorite shirts," she grumbled under her breath.

"I can definitely say this," Calvin growled. He shook his head side to side, arms folded angrily across his chest and a scowl practically frozen in place on his face. "All those punks in the cafeteria were _so_ lucky that Hobbes and I had never experienced a food fight before. If we had, then God help me, that food fight would have been over the instant it began."

Hobbes snarled in a clear 'hear, hear' tone.

"Oh screw you," Charlotte hissed. She then glared down at her spaghetti sauce caked cheerio outfit. "I mean come on, am I the only one who is at all bothered by how they did all this to me? _Me_?! Of all people?!"

Daniel snorted. "Well thank God for that small mercy at least," he then stated while directing a smug grin Charlotte's direction.

All the other gleeks, sans Zach and Charlotte, couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. "Amen for that," they all stated simultaneously in agreement.

Charlotte glared at all the gleeks who'd just commented at her expense, while simultaneously looking fit to explode. Zach, meanwhile, shook his head and sighed. "Really guys?" he thought to himself.

Mr. Schuester took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked back at his students, his hands raised in a half placatory and half serious gesture. "Look," he began. "I understand that things didn't go the way I hoped they would at lunch today, and for that I apologize." He took another deep breath, and exhaled. "But nonetheless, the point is that you at least tried, and my heart was in the right place."

The gleeks all thought to themselves, except for Charlotte who stuck her tongue out at Mr. Schuester.

"That is true," Diana eventually managed to say. All but Charlotte nodded their heads and mumbled in agreement with their female lead.

"And with that in mind," said Mr. Schuester. "Now that we're all here, I know something we could do that should make you guys feel at least somewhat better."

"Other than a bath or shower you mean?" Cody snarled spitefully.

Bailey promptly slapped him in the face. "Don't be rude," she damn near growled when Cody directed his own glaring face right back at her.

"You tell him babe," said Raj, only for him to cringe and whimper when Bailey turned her nightmare making death glare straight towards _him_. "Right, not helping, sorry." Bailey stuck her tongue out at Raj, and then turned her head to face Mr. Schuester once more with a roll of her eyes.

Mr. Schuester, now feeling more than a little aggrieved at being twice interrupted, took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily. "I'll admit, I'm sure all of you would feel much better after taking a nice long shower or bath; but while we're here, I say that we make do with seeing if any of you could perhaps fulfill their part in the week's assignment." He let a small smile come onto his face, and he lifted his finger as if to emphasize a point. "They always say that music is the best medicine."

"I thought that was laughter," said Calvin.

"Second best then," Mr. Schuester admitted. The other gleeks all started chuckling and giggling. Even Zach and Charlotte found themselves struggling to keep themselves from flat out breaking into happy grins and chuckling themselves.

Calvin raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What's so funny?" he then asked.

Susan giggled, and then made a dismissive gesture. "Nothing Calvin, don't mind us."

Calvin and Hobbes glared at Susan, eyebrows raised in confusion. "If you say so," the autistic boy eventually said. He turned his head towards Mr. Schuester once more, his dog doing the same after another 5 or 10 seconds of glaring in confusion at Susan.

Mr. Schuester clapped his hands together once, smile still on his face. "Alright everyone," he began, "is there anyone who'd like to fulfill their part in the assignment this session?"

All the gleeks who hadn't yet performed for the week's assignment thought to themselves. Then the silence was broken when Darren stood up from his seat, guitar at the ready, and a noticeable determination in his yellow contacted eyes. "I would," he said.

Mr. Schuester gestured towards the nearby microphone. "Have at it then," said the teacher.

Darren let out a small chuckle, and made his way over to the microphone. As this happened, with Darren busy setting up the microphone and later making sure that his guitar was tuned up just right, plus everybody else in the room keeping their focus directed strictly at Darren, nobody noticed Zach start fiddling around with something in his hands.

By the time Darren was ready, Zach had reached a good stopping point in his mysterious 'project', and everybody in the room was ready to see what the half Scottish boy had to offer. "Alright lads and lasses," he said, a noticeable Scottish accent starting to show in his voice. "I hope you're all ready for what I've got to offer for you today. I'll admit, knowing who my idol amongst previous generations of New Directions members is, my choice of song may be a bit of obvious and clichéd; but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it."

The ginger haired boy took a deep breath, exhaled, positioned his guitar as needed, and proceeded to start playing the appropriate tune for his chosen song. And when the part came for him to actually sing, the resulting performance went something like this:

 _I heard there was a secret chord  
David played and it pleased the Lord  
But you don't really care for music, do you?  
Well it goes like this:  
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift  
The baffled king composing Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah...  
Well your faith was strong but you needed proof  
You saw her bathing on the roof  
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya  
She tied you to her kitchen chair  
She broke your throne and she cut your hair  
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah...  
(Instrumental Break)_

 _Baby, I've been here before  
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor (you know)  
I used to live alone before I knew ya  
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch  
And love is not a victory march  
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah  
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah...  
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah...  
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah  
Hallelujah, hallelujah_

He strummed the final chord on his guitar, and then let silence hang in the air for a moment. Then that silence was shattered by the joyous applause from his fellow gleeks. Even Charlotte couldn't help but begrudgingly give a slow clap and nod her head in acknowledgement of his skill and passion. Darren nodded his head up and down, gave a slight bow, and then said, "Thank you everyone. I'm glad you enjoyed." He walked back over to his seat. "Next up," he said.

Before Mr. Schuester even had a chance to speak, Amber rose from her chair and walked on over to take Darren's place at the microphone, though not without taking a quick detour to the band members' location to whisper something (likely her chosen song) to them. Upon reaching the microphone, one could clearly see how happy she was. In fact, in spite of the messy food elements still present on her clothes, her current level of happiness seemed to just radiate and burst out of her like rays of sunlight.

"Alright everyone," she stated. "I hope what Darren had to offer was enough to get you all somewhat soothed down, because what I've got ready to sing for you all right now ought to _really_ get you in a good mood." She snapped her fingers, smile still on her face, and yet still managing to avoid making herself look inconsiderate and impatient in the process. "Hit it boys."

The band members were all too happy to oblige, and the resulting performance that occurred immediately after Amber finished the very much recognizable humming that occurred at the beginning of the song she'd chosen went as follows:

 _We have fallen down again tonight  
In this world it's hard to get it right  
Trying to make your heart fit like a glove  
What it needs is love, love, love  
Everybody, everybody wants to love  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
Everybody, everybody wants to love  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
(Instrumental Break)_

 _Happy is the heart that still feels pain  
Darkness drains and light will come again  
Swing open up your chest and let it in  
Just let the love, love, love begin  
Everybody, everybody wants to love  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
Everybody, everybody wants to love  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
Oh, everybody knows the love  
Everybody holds the love  
Everybody falls for love  
Everybody feels the love  
Everybody steals the love  
Everybody heals with love  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, just let the love, love, love begin  
Everybody, everybody wants to love  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, Just let the love, love, love begin  
Everybody, everybody wants to love  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, Just let the love, love, love begin  
Everybody, everybody wants to love  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
Everybody feels to love  
Everybody steals to be loved  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
Everybody, everybody wants to love (oh, everybody)  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved (oh, everybody)  
Oh, oh, oh (oh, everybody) oh, oh, oh (oh, everybody) oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh.  
Everybody, everybody wants to love (oh, everybody)  
Everybody, everybody wants to be loved (oh, everybody)  
Oh, oh, oh (oh, everybody) oh, oh, oh (oh, everybody) oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh._

The joyous applause that followed literally two seconds after Amber finished her performance was music to her ears, and she couldn't help but smile and giggle as she saw how her performance had indeed put all of her fellow gleeks in a _much_ better mood then they'd initially been in at the beginning of the session. Even Charlotte couldn't help but smile.

Mr. Schuester, also smiling, eventually managed to finish clapping. "Thanks for that Amber," he said.

Amber giggled. "You're welcome," she responded. She then walked back over to her seat. "Next," she said.

Dunlap was the next to rise from his seat and he proceeded to make his way to the band members, and from them to the microphone. Much as had been the case with Darren, everybody else in the room was so focused on Dunlap that absolutely no one noticed Zach seemingly fiddling around with something in his and Dunlap's backpacks. And of course, Zach managed to finish his little bit of 'business' in time to avoid getting caught when Dunlap finally made it to the microphone at full preparedness for his upcoming performance.

"Alright everyone," said the albino boy, his red eyes blazing with excitement and joy that had most certainly not been there before Darren and Amber's performances. "Hope you've all still got room for more happiness and positivity after what Amber had to offer; because my performance will so leave you wanting to literally dance with joy." He turned his head to face the band, winking in the process.

The band members promptly began playing the appropriate tune for the song that Dunlap had chosen, and the resulting performance went like this:

 _Ladies and Gentlemen we've got a special treat for you tonight  
I'm gonna call my friend Olly up here to... to sing to you ladies  
Olly!  
Let's go man  
My name is Olly nice to meet you can I tell you baby  
Look around there's a whole lot of pretty ladies  
But none like you, you shine so bright, yeah  
I was wondering if you and me could spend a minute  
On the floor up and close getting lost in it  
I won't give up without a fight  
I just wanna, oh baby  
I just want you to dance with me tonight  
So come on, oh baby  
I just want you to dance with me tonight  
We're getting sweaty, hot and heavy in the crowd now  
I loosen up and let your hands go down, down  
But go with it girl, yeah just close your eyes, yeah  
I feel the music moving through your body  
And looking at you I can tell you want me  
Don't stop, keep going till the morning light, yeah  
When I saw you there, sitting all alone in the dark acting like you didn't have a care  
I knew right then, that you'd be mine, and we'd be dancing the whole damn night like  
Oh baby,  
I just want you to dance with me tonight  
So come on, oh baby  
I just want you to dance with me tonight  
Break it down now,  
(New Directions: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)  
Shake it like that,  
(New Directions: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)  
Now bring it all back  
To dance with me tonight  
One more time, one more time, come on now  
(New Directions: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)  
Do your thing,  
(New Directions: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)  
Everybody sing  
(New Directions: I just want you to dance with me tonight)  
I just wanna, oh baby  
I just want you to dance with me tonight  
Everybody, everybody come on now  
Girl, just close your eyes  
We can dance all through the night,  
I just want you to dance with me tonight  
And everybody sing  
Girl just close your eyes,  
We can dance all through the night  
I just want you to dance with me tonight  
So come on girl just close your eyes  
We can dance all through the night  
I just want you to dance with me tonight_

Much like with Amber, all of two seconds passed the end of Dunlap's performance before the audience assembled within the choir room exploded into jubilant applause. Naomi even went so far as to give Dunlap a standing ovation; and considering the fact that she'd usually never do such an action as a result of her blindness, that was saying something.

"Bravo Dunlap," said Mr. Schuester as he began to wind down in his applause. "Excellent performance."

"Thank you, Mr. Schue," said Dunlap. He made his way over to where he'd been seated. However, instead of immediately sitting back down in his empty chair the way Amber and Darren had done, he came to a stop right by Naomi. "I trust you'd perhaps be willing to have a go today before the session ends?"

Naomi chuckled, and nodded her head, her opaque blue eyes seemingly sparkling from joy. "Need you ask?" she asked.

Dunlap chuckled, and proceeded to escort her over to the microphone, even going so far as to ask her to tell him her chosen song and spread the information to the band for her before finally returning to his seat altogether.

The instant Dunlap was seated once more and everyone had their attention focused on her, Naomi took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Good afternoon everybody," she began. "Well, I'm sure that my three compatriots have all gotten you in a much better mood than you were all in at the beginning of this session." Her 12 peers all mumbled in agreement and likewise showed assent. Naomi giggled. "Well that being said, I hope you're ready, because my performance should be just the thing you need to end this session on a real high note." She turned her head and tentatively squinted in the direction that she guessed was where the band was located. "Are you ready?" she asked.

The band members, who indeed were in the area she was looking towards, all said "You bet," in unison.

Naomi chuckled nervously in relief. "Good," she said. "Let's begin."

The band obliged, and the resulting performance that unfolded soon afterward went as follows:

 _We, we don't have to worry 'bout nothing  
'Cause we got the fire, and we're burning one hell of a something  
They, they gonna see us from outer space, outer space  
Light it up, like we're the stars of the human race, human race  
When the light started out they don't know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky  
'Cause we got the fire, fire, fire  
Yeah we got the fire, fire, fire  
And we gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
Gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
We don't wanna leave, no. We just wanna be right now (right), r-r-right now  
And what we see is everybody's on the floor acting crazy, getting loco 'til the lights out  
Music's on, I'm waking up, we fight the fire, then we burn it up  
And it's over now, we got the love, there's no sleeping now, no sleeping now, no sleeping  
When the light started out they don't know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky  
'Cause we got the fire, fire, fire  
Yeah we got the fire, fire, fire  
And we gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
Gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
When the light started out they don't know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn (burn burn)  
Burn burn burn burn (burn burn)  
We can light it up, up, up  
So they can't put it out, out, out  
We can light it up, up, up  
So they can't put it out, out, out  
We can light it up, up, up  
So they can't put it out, out, out  
We can light it up, up, up  
So they can't put it out, out, out  
When the light started out they don't know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky  
'Cause we got the fire, fire, fire  
Yeah we got the fire, fire, fire  
And we gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
Gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn  
When the light started out they don't know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky  
'Cause we got the fire, fire, fire  
Yeah we got the fire, fire, fire  
And we gonna let it burn_

For what seemed like an eternity to Naomi, silence hung in the air as the assembled audience gaped at her in awe. But the apparent eternity was, in reality, only two seconds. And once those two seconds were up, the silence was emphatically DESTROYED by the sound of the applause that exploded from the throats of everyone else in the choir. Naomi let a wide smile come on her face, and she giggled joyfully as she listened to the sound of the applause coming from the mass blur of color sitting in front of her.

Mr. Schuester, naturally, was likewise happy as he added his own applause to the mix. "Well done Naomi," said the teacher. "Fantastic performance."

Naomi chuckled in a clear 'ah shucks' fashion. "Thanks Mr. Schue."

"You can say that again Mr. Schue," said Dunlap. "Was that awesome guys? Or was that _awesome_!?" The other gleeks all let out a cheer of agreement.

At exactly that moment, the bell rang to signify the end of the session.

"That's all for today everyone," said Mr. Schuester as he and everyone else in the choir room got up from their seats, gathered their things, and slowly began to gradually make their way out of the room. "Remember everyone, we've still got three full days left this week for the rest of you all to finish the assignment. Enjoy the rest of your day; I'll see you all tomorrow!"

The gleeks all gave off varying forms of verbal acknowledgement of their teacher's words as they all proceeded to depart from the choir room and head off in various directions towards the areas they needed to go to take care of some final activities before they left the school grounds altogether. However, as all the gleeks headed off in their respective directions, not even one of them was at all aware of the almost devious look that was on Zach's face. He had a big plan for what he intended to do once he and everyone else in the glee club were finished with the activities and tasks they were now on the way to take care of. He had already taken care of the necessary measures to prevent interference from at least four, possibly even seven of the other members of the glee club. Now all he needed to do was get one or two other tiny details taken care of and he'd be all set. And he was looking forward greatly to what he now intended to do.

 **And just like that, another chapter done, and on a note of suspense to! Will this be enough to allow you all to look forward to the next chapter? I certainly hope so! Remember, I require a minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter in order to post the next chapter (upon its completion of course). That being said, here I am very much hoping you enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of feedback nonetheless! ^_^ And believe me, I'm having lots of fun with this story (and by God do I hope you are having just as much fun reading as I am writing).**

 **Songs Used:**

 **Hallelujah - Jason Castro - Performed by Darren McCrimmon**

 **Everybody - Ingrid Michaelson - Performed by Amber Lawson**

 **Dance with me Tonight - Olly Murs - Performed by Dunlap Carmichael**

 **Burn - Ellie Goulding - Performed by Naomi Bright**

 **Coming up Next: Tensions between Calvin and Zach reach dangerous new heights!**


	11. A Battle Between Two Alphas

**Hey ya'll! MAN it's been too long! Well on the bright side, at least now the newest chapter has FINALLY arrived! And boy am I hoping that you all enjoy it and find it worth the HELL long wait! In this long awaited chapter, tensions between Zach and Calvin reach dangerous new heights; and before long, a truly epic battle unfolds between them. If THAT doesn't sound exciting, then by God I don't know what will (no offense guys and gals ^_^). And that being said . . .**

 **A/N: Oh wait, first, I'd best remind you that I do not own Glee. Get that? Got that? Good. And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! Onward! With! The! Fic!**

 **Chapter 11:**

 **A Battle Between Two Alphas**

Half an hour later, Raj, Bailey, and Cody were walking peacefully through the halls of McKinley High. And for once, they all had no problem hanging out in the same area strictly by themselves as a trio. For considering what had just gone down during the after-school glee club session combined with the food fight from quite a while before that session, they had decided to place themselves on a truce for the rest of the day. And they were all too happy to enjoy and savor this rare newfound moment of peace.

"I will admit," Cody thought to himself. "It sure does feel nice to just hang out together peacefully with Raj and Bailey without all this drama between us." He mentally sighed, and physically shook his head side to side. "God what happened to the good old days between us?"

"To think that we're here in full genuine companionship with each other right this moment after how often we've spent in the last few months swimming in all this drama and tension," Bailey thought to herself. "Is it too much to ask for us to be like this all the time once more without having to go through some sort of big hassle?"

"Feels just like the old days," Raj thought to himself. He hung his head. "God, I miss those old days." He turned his head to look towards his left. "Boy I hope we'll be able to resolve all this drama between us before I graduate; not to mention in a way that allows all three of us, plus Kimberly to get a happy ending out of it all." The Indian American boy sighed heavily in his mind. "God I hope she and Sid are doing alright these days."

At the sound of a crash and a pained shriek coming from somewhere down the hall ahead of them, Cody, Bailey, and Raj promptly snapped out of their reverie in jolted shock. While they were most certainly not at all 100% fully familiar with their other 10 peers in the glee club, they were still somewhat reasonably sure that the voice responsible for the shriek had sounded somewhat like Dunlap.

This suspicion was then confirmed when they heard a girl's voice, likely Naomi, worriedly yell, "Dunlap! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," they heard Dunlap growl, grumbling to himself afterward as if in pain. "Good grief," the trio then heard the albino boy snarl. "What the Devil is going on with my legs?"

The trio promptly hurried on over to where Dunlap and Naomi's voices were coming from, skidding to a stop in time to find Naomi on her knees with her right hand grasping her cane and her left hand on the floor next to Dunlap, who was lying on his belly and had his hands and arms positioned as if he were about to try to push himself back up. Naomi heard the trio stop nearby her and Dunlap, and she reared up in shock with a unnerved look of wariness on her face. "Whose there?" she asked.

"It's alright," said Cody. "It's me, Cody, from the glee club. Bailey and Raj are with me to."

Dunlap managed to turn his head to look behind him, and he let a small pained smile come on his face. "Hey guys," he managed to groan half happily and half in pain.

Bailey got down on her hands and knees on the opposite side of Naomi's position. "What happened?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

Dunlap grimaced, his eyes closed and teeth gritted. "Not quite." With what seemed like considerable effort, the albino boy with prosthetic legs managed to turn himself over and then sit down on the floor with his hands on the floor behind his back and his legs stretched to full length across the floor in front of him. "My legs, I'm having trouble bending and moving them as I walk."

"We were walking through the halls," Naomi began. "We'd finished taking care of some stuff in the library and we were on our way to the parking lot to wait for our rides to pick us up. But while we were walking, Dunlap seemed to act as if his legs were stiffened somehow, and he almost tripped and stumbled a few times. But then, about a few seconds ago, he ended up reaching the point that he fell. And I don't know what's going on!"

Dunlap placed his left hand on Naomi's right shoulder, trying his best to reassure his increasingly nervous and borderline hysterical blind friend. "It's ok Naomi. Just take a deep breath. Everything will be fine."

"Have your legs stiffened up like this before?" Cody asked.

"No," said Dunlap. He then grimaced as if trying his best to remember something. "At least, I don't think so." He looked down at his legs. "In any event, I certainly don't remember my legs ever getting all stiff to the point that I could barely even walk a few steps without falling flat on my face."

"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary at any point before now?" Raj asked.

"How's that supposed to help us?!" Naomi screamed, still feeling too nervous about Dunlap's plight and how it had apparently struck out of nowhere to think as clearly as she would have otherwise been able to in such a moment.

"Depending on the answer to that question," Bailey explained patiently to the almost quivering ginger haired girl, "it may help us figure out what's wrong."

Dunlap thought to himself. "Well, my legs were functioning just fine the last few days, and for almost the entirety of today." He looked back at his legs. "Granted, I think they sounded a little squeaky and rusty earlier while Naomi and I were heading to the library, and so I oiled them with my oil can while we were there." He thought to himself once more. "I think they _may_ have started getting all wonky and such not too long after Naomi and I left the library." He looked straight back at the trio. "Does any of that help?"

Bailey and Raj thought to themselves as if not entirely sure. Cody, however, clearly had an idea on his mind. "Can I take a look at your oil can?"

Dunlap and Naomi both raised their eyebrow in confusion. "May I ask why?" Dunlap asked.

"Not entirely sure how to word this," Cody admitted. He thought to himself. "Call it a hunch I guess."

Naomi looked over at Dunlap, who thought to himself. "Well," said the albino boy. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

With some help from Naomi and Raj, Dunlap managed to remove his backpack from his back, unzip the main compartment, and withdraw his oil can. At least, it looked like his oil can anyway. Dunlap handed the oil can to Bailey, who passed it over to Cody. "Here you go," said Bailey as Cody proceeded to grasp onto the can and start examining it from top to bottom.

Cody narrowed his eyes as he focused carefully on the object in his hands. "Hmm, I wonder," he said out loud to no one in particular. He looked back at Dunlap. "Can it be opened?"

"Yes," Dunlap answered, though with a clearly confused tone. "What does that have to do with . . .?"

"Just a second," Cody interrupted as he managed to figure out how to open the oil can, proceeding to unscrew the lid and then lift it clear off of the can entirely. He placed the lid on the floor and looked into the can, adjusting his glasses to further enhance his focus as he examined the interior. He narrowed his eyes in what looked like a mixture of disgust and confusion.

"Um," he then said, clearly not quite sure what to think. "Dunlap?" He handed the open oil can over to Dunlap, his face still clearly showing how confused he was. "Is this what the oil you use typically looks like?"

Dunlap accepted the oil can from Cody's grasp and looked into it. His own crimson eyes promptly narrowed in confusion as well. The supposed 'oil' inside the can looked awfully transparent and somewhat gelatinous compared to what the oil he usually used, or any oil period, looked like. "No," he responded. "Honestly," he then said. "I'm not really sure what this is or how it got in here." The albino boy looked up from his oil can, still clearly confused. "Because I know, for a _fact_ , that my oil can was still more than half full when I entered the choir room for the after-school glee club session, and the oil sure as heck didn't look like this."

At that moment, Raj's eyes widened as if he'd just thought of something. "Bailey," he said. "Do you have a spare pencil or something I could borrow?"

Bailey and Cody, plus the two sophomores stared at Raj with their eyebrows raised in confusion. "Um, yeah," said Bailey uncertainly. "Why?"

"I think I might have a little theory as to what's going on," Raj explained. "And I'd like to test it."

Bailey looked over at Cody, who shrugged. "Might as well."

Bailey thought to herself, and then nodded. She hurriedly got out one of her oldest pencils and handed it over to Raj. "Here you go."

Raj leaned over towards the oil can, which Dunlap was now holding out as close to Raj as he could. The Indian American dipped the worn pencil into the strange mixture within the oil can, submerging the entire front half of the writing utensil under it. He withdrew the pencil, all five of the gleeks noticing that he seemed to do so with somewhat (though not very high) more difficulty then it should have been to withdraw a pencil from any liquid, let alone from oil.

Raj lifted the pencil to directly in front of his face, and his eyes narrowed as he gazed intently at the strange mixture coating the top half of writing utensil. He straightened back up to full height, walked over to where a poster for the drama club was located, and placed the mixture coated portion of the pencil directly against the exact center of the bottom side of the poster, the uncoated portion touching the uncovered wall beneath the poster. As he maintained hold on the bottom half of the pencil, Raj leaned forward and blew hard on the top half with his breath. After about a minute or so, Raj let go of the pencil and stepped back. The pencil remained positioned where it was, clearly stuck to the poster.

It took an entire solid minute of observing the apparent anomaly before Cody, Bailey, and the two sophomores finally realized just what was going on, and their eyes widened as they promptly realized the very likely explanation behind it. Raj saw the looks on the faces of his four peers, and he nodded his head. "That stuff in your oil can? It's not oil." He shook his head side to side and then looked straight at Dunlap. "It's glue." He walked back over to Dunlap, got into a crouching position that would allow him to examine the joints in Dunlap's left 'knee', and looked carefully at the joints in question. "And judging from the effect it appears to have had on your legs," the Indian American began, "odds are its super glue."

"But how?" Dunlap asked in clear shock and confusion.

"That," Raj began as he proceeded to straighten back to full height. "Is something that I now have a feeling we would all very much like to know."

The sound of another pained shriek, but this time sounding considerably more pained than Dunlap's, brought the attention of the 5 gleeks elsewhere. Dunlap and Naomi appeared especially concerned in their reactions due to how they were able to instantly recognize the voice as Darren's. And sure enough, none other than Darren and Amber came out of a nearby side hallway; and the very worried looking Amber had her hands on Darren's shoulders and appeared to be trying to her best to see if he was alright while Darren himself had his hands over his eyes and seemed to be wincing, hissing, and flat out screaming in agony.

"Darren!" Amber yelled. "Darren, answer me! Are you ok?"

"Do I sound like I'm ok?!" Darren snapped, clearly feeling too pained to be polite. He gritted his teeth in another wince, snarling and hissing savagely from whatever it was that was bothering him. "God, what is going on with my eyes?"

In a flash, Cody and Raj turned their heads to face Bailey. "Can you stay here with Dunlap and Naomi?" Cody asked.

Bailey nodded her head, and gestured towards Amber and Darren. "Don't worry. I can handle this. Get going."

"Right," said Cody. "Come on," he then said to Raj. The Indian American did not need to be told twice, and he and Cody promptly rushed over to the worried Amber and clearly in pain Darren.

"What's going on?" Raj asked as he and Cody came to a stop.

"What happened?" Cody asked.

Amber looked at the two Asian Americans, her despair and worry still clearly showing on her face. "I don't know," she managed to say. "But whatever is going on, it's clearly hurting Darren really bad!"

"TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW!" Darren roared.

"Darren," said Raj. "I know you're in pain, but try your best to keep it together so we can help you. Ok?"

Darren growled, wincing in pain, but nodded. "I'll try."

"That's good," said Raj. "Alright; about when would you say it started?"

Darren hissed and snarled, clearly fighting the pain and trying his best to coherently think so he could answer the question.

"Well," the ginger haired boy began. "My eyes were just fine almost the entire day before now, and definitely before I changed my contacts."

"When did that happen?" Raj asked.

"About 10, maybe 15 minutes ago?" Darren stated, clearly not entirely certain himself of the exact time.

"What was the last thing you remember doing before then?" Cody asked.

Cody thought to himself some more, wincing again through the pain. "Well," the pained redhead began, "I remember that whatever had gotten between my left contact and eye over the course of the food fight had started to get particularly uncomfortable, and so I went into the restroom to take them out while Amber waited outside." He thought some more. "I guess I must have decided to just take care of fully cleaning up the original contacts after I got home, so I put on a backup pair." He thought to himself yet again. "It didn't seem too bad at first, though there may have been a slight bit of discomfort that I dismissed; but over time, the feeling on my eyes started to get worse; and right now, suffice it to say, I feel like my eyes are on fire!" Immediately after he said the last word, Darren howled in agony yet again.

At that moment, Cody then said, "Can you lower your hands and open your eyes?"

"How's that supposed to help?!" Amber yelled.

"We might get an idea of what's going on if we get a good look at his eyes," Raj explained patiently.

Darren winced and hissed in pain, but eventually nodded his head. "Ok," he grunted. "I'll try." With what seemed like extreme difficulty, Darren managed to tensely lower his hands from his eyes and then gradually force his eyes open.

At the sight of Darren with his eyes now opened and uncovered, Raj and Cody involuntarily reared back with their eyes widened in shock. Darren winced, and just barely managed to avoid snapping his eyes shut, fighting through the pain and reflex tears. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"Not good," said Raj. And indeed, Darren's eyes did not look good, especially if the rapidly forming reflex tears and red lining surrounding the skin area that encircled his eyes were any indication. "Whatever's going on with your eyes right now, it needs to be treated, and quick!"

"No kidding," Cody agreed, clearly just as concerned. Then his eyes narrowed, and he sniffed the air. "And for that matter, does anyone else smell lemons right now?"

Raj, Amber, and Darren sniffed the air themselves (though Darren did so with considerably more difficulty due to the pain in his eyes).

"You're right," said Raj. "I am smelling something lemony around here."

"Me to," said Amber.

"Me three," said Darren. He winced once more. "I think."

Cody and Raj looked each other in the eyes. "I think I know what's wrong," said Raj.

"Me to," Cody agreed.

"What?" Darren asked hurriedly. "What is it?"

"No time to explain," said Cody. He looked over at Amber. "Amber, where's the nearest boy's bathroom?"

Amber, clearly dismissing any potential confusion over the question in favor of the potential of Darren's current problem with his eyes being resolved and allowing him to no longer be feeling such great pain in his eyes, pointed straight at the hallway she and Darren had left not too long ago. "Right down that hall!"

"Perfect." Cody looked at Raj. "You hear that?"

"Yep," said the Indian American.

"What's that have to do with anything?" Darren snapped, clearly once again in a state of pain induced anger and impatience.

The two Asians looked at the ginger haired boy. "Darren," said Raj. "I think we know what's happening to you, and if we're right, we should be able to stop the pain and prevent further damage." The Indian American pointed in the direction of the hallway where Amber had indicated to be the location of the nearest restroom. "But right now, we need to get you to the bathroom, and a sink, or really any continuous source of water, and have your current contacts removed and eyes washed out as fast as possible. I know that sounds weird, but you've got to trust us right now."

Darren winced again from yet another flash of pain. "If you say so," he managed to snarl.

"Good," said Cody. "But first." He looked at Bailey. "Bailey, see if you can find the janitor and bring him over here. If there's anyone around who'd be guaranteed to know a good and fast way to get that glue out of Dunlap's legs, it's him."

"Will do Cody," said Bailey.

"What about me?" Amber asked.

Cody turned his head to face the blonde girl, and then pointed his finger at Dunlap and Naomi. "Stay with your friends over there and keep them calm and safe while Bailey gets the janitor. As for me," he looked at Raj. "Raj and I had best get Darren to the bathroom and get his eyes taken care of."

Having thus gotten everything planned and assigned roles as needed to everyone involved, the seven gleeks promptly got to work on their respective tasks. Bailey rushed off to search for the janitor, Amber positioned herself at an appropriate area near where Naomi and Dunlap were positioned, and Cody and Raj hurriedly rushed Darren off to the nearest bathroom to hopefully put an end to the agonizing pain he was feeling in his eyes. Little did any of them know, however, that the current drama befalling them was hardly the worst thing to befall any of the gleeks that afternoon.

. . . . .

At around the exact same time that the 'trio' had been happily walking through the halls before becoming aware of Dunlap's plight, the two leads and their respective deputies, plus Hobbes, were also walking together through a hallway. As of that moment, they had all managed to get their respective school supplies they needed for the night out of their lockers and into their backpacks to bring home, and they now had plenty of time to wait before Mrs. Taymor arrived to take them all home. And they were also feeling very happy indeed to have already formed such strong camaraderie together.

"I'm not sure if I've said this already," said Calvin. "But thanks nonetheless for letting us ride home with you," the autistic boy continued.

"No problem buddy," said Daniel. "And you're welcome."

"What he said," said Diana. She chuckled. "After all, what are friends for?"

"You are aware you and Daniel only just became my friends today right?" said Calvin.

"So?" said Diana.

"Nothing," said Calvin. "Just keeping things honest."

Susan chuckled. "Well nevertheless," she then said before looking happily at Calvin. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to have a nice long talk with Diana and Daniel on the way home."

A wide grin promptly spread out onto Calvin's face. "Oh yeah," he said. "I'm _definitely_ looking forward to that."

Daniel and Diana, naturally, looked quite confused. "What's so exciting about a little talk?" Diana asked.

Susan chuckled, and turned her head away from Calvin to look at her best gal pal. "Like I've told you Diana," she explained. "With Calvin, and the right topic, a simple conversation can be quite the adventure, not to mention a real learning experience."

"Ain't that the truth?" said Calvin. He then chuckled, with Hobbes letting out two barks in a clear 'hear, hear' fashion.

"Well in that case," said Daniel. "Just what exactly can I expect for us to potentially be talking about?"

Calvin chuckled. "Oh a great many things could be the topic of discussion," the autistic boy stated enigmatically. "Favorite animals, favorite books, favorite movies, favorite cartoons, favorite comics, favorite superheroes, favorite Pokemon, favorite anime, and Lord knows whatever else I like that you share an interest in."

Diana whistled. "Well you certainly have quite a lot of information in that head of yours."

"Indeed I do," said Calvin.

Susan chuckled. "No kidding." She looked over at Diana and Daniel. "Trust me, with the right topic, you can get quite the lengthy discussion about just about anything he finds interesting; ranging from teaching you everything there is to know about all manner of animals to ranting about the worst comic book superhero movies from _Batman and Robin_ to the 2015 _Fantastic Four_ movie."

"Oh do not get me started on that atrocity," said Calvin.

"Which one?" Daniel asked. " _Batman and Robin_? Or _Fant4stic_?"

" _Fant4stic_ ," Calvin responded instantaneously. " _Batman and Robin_ may have been a train wreck and all around horrible movie, but that movie was at least _entertaining_. _Fant4stic_? The most joyless, stupidest, bleakest, anticlimactic, and incompetently done movie in the history of mankind. Seriously, _Fant4stic_ makes _Batman and Robin_ , _X-Men Origins: Wolverine_ , _Catwoman_ , _Superman: Quest for Peace_ , and even freaking _Howard the Duck_ look flipping Oscar worthy. Hell, the 2005 _Fantastic 4_ and _Rise of the Silver Surfer_ , flawed as they are, are a trillion-billion-million times better than the 2015 shit storm that is _Fant4stic_."

Susan shook her head with a mirthful smile on her face, and looked back at Daniel and Diana while gesturing towards Calvin in a 'ta-da' fashion. "See what I mean?" she asked good naturedly.

"No kidding," said Diana, now feeling somewhat unnerved at just how overly seriously Calvin appeared to be taking his newly accepted topic of discussion. The way she now saw it, she couldn't help but wonder if he was being a little overly passionate by even _her_ standards. "I must ask you though Calvin," she began. "Are you always this hyper and what not about stuff? I mean, what's wrong with a little inhibition?"

"Inhibition?" Calvin asked in what sounded like an almost scandalized tone. "At a moment in which I'm excited? Blasphemy!"

Susan chuckled, and rolled her eyes playfully while Hobbes shook his head side to side with a mildly annoyed look on his furry face. Diana, meanwhile, looked somewhat bewildered while Daniel now had a more dumbfounded and confused look on his own face.

At the sound of a small 'clack' coming from under one of Calvin's feet, the four gleeks and the dog halted, and then looked down. As it turned out, Calvin had just now stepped on what looked like a large stick that just happened to be lying around on the center of the floor.

The gleeks stared at the stick, clearly confused. Daniel picked it up. "What the heck is this doing here?" he asked.

Diana, Susan, and Calvin promptly indicated in their own ways that they had no more knowledge behind the matter than Daniel.

"You tell me," said Diana.

"I hope you're not asking me," said Susan. "Because I certainly don't have any idea."

"Hell if I know," Calvin agreed.

Hobbes, meanwhile, unbeknownst to his master and the other three students, was now crouching playfully as if about to pounce, wagging his tail, and happily panting. As incredulously smart as he was, Hobbes was still a dog. And much like other dogs, he knew perfectly well how to play fetch. And now, with his natural dog instincts overriding his usual intelligence that would have allowed him to be just as confused about its presence as his master, Hobbes thought that Daniel was about to try to play fetch with him. Granted, a part of him knew that he'd never played fetch before with any person that wasn't his master, his master's parents, or Susan. But on the other hand, Daniel was a friend of his master's, and that, Hobbes reasoned, made the boy an acceptable enough person for him to play fetch with as far as he was concerned.

Daniel looked down the hall, and then back at the stick. He shrugged. "Probably doesn't really matter anyway," he thought to himself. He looked back down the hall, this time a smile coming on his face as he saw a conveniently open door to a nearby classroom. "Well never mind this," he said as he drew his right arm back to throw the stick. "I'm sure the janitor can take care of it." He threw the stick, and it went flying straight through the open doorway. Soon after entry into the empty classroom, the stick landed on the floor and skidded to a stop at about the exact center of the room. Meanwhile, at the exact same moment that Daniel had thrown the stick, Hobbes just as swiftly darted off in the direction it had been thrown, barking happily.

Diana and Daniel gaped in surprise at the sight of Hobbes running off to where Daniel had thrown the stick. Susan and Calvin, meanwhile, just shook their heads side to side with bemused looks on their faces.

"And now we're about to get it back," said Calvin.

"Yeah," Daniel said sheepishly. "Definitely think this through."

Susan let out a small chuckle. "As smart as Hobbes is for a dog, he's still a dog."

"I can see that," said Diana, letting out a small giggle of her own that the inherently cute sight of Hobbes rushing off to retrieve the stick in what he clearly assumed to be a game of fetch.

Hobbes turned his run into a sideways skid just in time to lunge into the empty class room before coming to a stop with a still joyful look on his face as he came to a stop at the stick's position and prepared to pick it up in his jaws.

However, at exactly that moment, the entire whimsical and positive atmosphere of the moment was emphatically dispelled when the door to the classroom in question was abruptly slammed shut. The four gleeks promptly jolted and froze, eyes widened and mouths agape in stunned shock at the sight of the student who'd just now closed the door to the classroom that Hobbes had just now entered; incidentally revealing himself to have been hiding behind it beforehand. Daniel, as it turned out, soon found himself silently becoming even more shocked as he recognized the boy. The boy in question, a well-built, but also relatively smaller boy with light brown hair, was Gregory McGuire, captain of the McKinley High rugby team. Calvin also recognized the boy, having fought him and some of the other rugby players amongst the current student body of McKinley High before, and his eyes narrowed into a glare while also gritting his teeth into a silent feral snarl.

Hobbes heard the door slam behind him literally right as he was about to close his teeth around the stick, and he tensed up, head raised, ears sticking straight up, tail between his hindlegs, and eyes widened in alarm. He whipped his head to look behind him just in time to see the door closed with Gregory looking right through the small window affixed to the center at the top. At the sight of the boy, Hobbes growled, angry from both being shut inside the room and from recognizing him from past encounters. With a snarl, the angry German Shepherd charged straight towards the door, leaving the stick where it lay.

Unfortunately, right as Hobbes jumped the last two feet between him and the door, the four gleeks all found their eyes widening and hearts in their throats at the sound of a distinctive clicking noise that now indicated for an especially unnerving new development in the current situation. Hobbes himself only confirmed their suspicions mere seconds later when he slammed against the door, only to find himself standing on his hindlegs, slamming his clawed front paws against the door, and barking in a mixture of rage and horror as he too realized that Gregory had now locked the door.

The four gleeks promptly rushed over to the locked classroom. "Hey!" Calvin yelled. Gregory turned his head, briefly stunned from the abruptness of hearing Calvin shouting, only for a glare to then come on his face as he recognized Calvin. Calvin came to a stop, as did Susan, Daniel, and Diana. The autistic boy pointed at the door. "Are you crazy?! Open that door!"

Gregory narrowed his eyes further. "Or what loser?"

"Don't play dumb," Calvin snarled. "Open that door!"

"What he said," said Daniel, a disapproving look of his own on his face.

Gregory looked over at Daniel, now looking even _less_ pleased. "Why should I listen to you? You're not the boss of me Taymor."

"He may not be your boss," said Diana. She placed her hands on her hips, her green eyes blazing venomously. "But as quarterback, he is of equal rank to you by jock standards. And considering where you rank on the popularity rankings around here compared to him, he might as well be your boss."

"Yeah," Susan agreed, folding her arms across her chest. "And that's being optimistic considering how he could just as easily blow the whistle on you to coach Bieste."

Gregory scoffed, and rolled his eyes. Then he directed a smirk at Diana. "Oh please, like you're one to talk about popularity. By the logic you just used right now, I really don't have any reason to listen you now do I?"

Susan put her left foot forward, fists now clenched at her sides. "Leave my friends alone you scum!"

Gregory chuckled, and looked back at Daniel. "Can you seriously believe what's going on here? Honestly Taymor, it's gonna be a miracle for people to take you seriously anymore at this rate, and that's not even considering how difficult it is already!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Daniel snarled.

"Isn't it obvious?" Gregory asked, a smug smirk on his face. He pointed at Diana. "I mean please, its already hard enough for people to accept the fact that you like to associate with that filthy little peasant with delusions of being the next Rachel Berry." Diana hissed, her eyes narrowed and fists clenched tighter to the point that her knuckles began to turn white. "But with all these other dweebs in that Fag Fest you joined? Come on! How is it you can't comprehend how unnatural it is for someone of your class to hang around with all these insignificant 'no names' when you could be spending your time far less wastefully with the rest of your kind around here! Honestly, is it really that difficult for you to comprehend something that simple?"

The rugby captain pointed at Susan. "And look at her! How the heck she's managed to rank as high on the popularity list around here as she has without even being a cheerleader or of a similarly high caste group around here is beyond me; I'll admit that. But that doesn't change the fact that she's pretty darn high in popularity around here; plus admittedly hot enough for such a position to, but that's not the point!"

At the sound of that last sentence, Susan, Calvin, and even Hobbes narrowed their eyes and glared at the rugby captain. Hobbes even went so far as to snarl and tense himself up to the point that his front paws involuntarily slid down the window slightly, causing his claws to leave a small series of scratch marks on the glass.

"Seriously," Gregory continued. "As popular as she and you are, you two could be freaking royalty around here if you weren't always associating with all those lowlife peasants around here." He pointed at Calvin. "Not to mention with that freak of nature over here and that mangy mutt of his I just locked out of the picture." He looked straight at Calvin, smug smirk still on his face. "Because that's where all animals should be Short Bus. In cages!" He pointed at the window where the still angry Hobbes was peaking and snarling. "Want to join your precious little flea bag? I'll gladly let you."

"Enough with this!" Calvin growled, slightly bending his legs and clenching his fists. "I don't know what's gotten into you today punk, but stop acting like an idiot and release Hobbes this instant!"

"I'm afraid that can't be done just yet."

The four gleeks turned their heads in the direction of the new voice to be introduced into the situation, only for Daniel and Diana's eyes to widen and Calvin and Susan to narrow their eyes and practically growl upon sight of none other than Zach walking confidently over down the hall in their direction, his backpack strangely not fully zipped closed on his back. While they gazed in his direction, they soon also became aware of a small crowd that had already begun to gather and show signs of forming over the course of what had just now been going on with Gregory and the locked classroom that Hobbes was now trapped in; a crowd that was now very much showing signs of growing larger now that Zach had announced his presence and started making his way towards the rugby captain and his four fellow gleeks.

As his four fellow glee club members continued to gape at him in shock and rage, Zach continued to calmly make his way towards them and Gregory, an expression that was equal parts confident smile and equal parts determined glare firmly plastered on his face. Upon coming to a stop, Zach took a deep breath, exhaled, and then directed his smiling face at Gregory. "I see you've gotten the beast out of the way." He nodded his head. "Thank you."

Gregory chuckled, and bowed his head in respect. "You're welcome buddy. It was my pleasure."

Upon hearing this, Diana and Daniel's shocked expressions morphed into angry glares of the exact same caliber as the ones that were already on Susan and Calvin's faces, and Hobbes, who was now finally able to actually see Zach from his current position, let out a considerably louder angry snarl before then exploding into a cacophony of enraged barks. Daniel snarled, and pointed his finger at the locked door with the barking dog trapped behind it. "You set this up yourself?"

Zach chuckled, and looked straight at Daniel. "You bet I did. Proud of it to."

"Proud?!" Diana practically shrieked, scandalized by the choice of words that Zach had just used to describe how he felt about the current situation, as well as by the undeniable confirmation of the admittedly quite treacherous looking actions he'd just basically admitted having done combined with all the other unpleasant tasks she'd become aware of him doing just that morning. "Proud?! How can you say that!" She gestured angrily at the locked door. "What's Hobbes ever done to you?!"

"Nothing so far." Zach pointed at Gregory. "But there are plenty friends of mine that have ended up on the painful side of him."

"You got that right," the rugby captain grumbled.

Daniel growled, and Diana clenched her fists once again, now practically fighting to keep herself from exploding in anger. Calvin and Susan were hardly any better in how they themselves were likewise struggling to keep it together despite their own rising anger.

"And even without that to consider," Zach continued before he then pointed towards Calvin and Susan. "Right now, I've got some important business to take care of with your deputies, and it's imperative that there not be even the slightest possibility of that overgrown puppy interfering while the business in question is still in the process of being handled."

"Zach," Daniel hissed, his gray eyes now starting to seemingly develop a small glow in his rage. "I know you're probably still angry right now about our talk in the hallway this afternoon directly before lunch." He then pointed at the locked door and still angrily barking Hobbes. "But this? This is _not_ helping your case."

"This really could be a heck of a lot easier right now you know," said Zach. He shook his head. "If you'd just be more accepting of all the effort I'm doing to keep you safe from the dangers of associating with the wrong sort, not to mention be supportive of me like a _real_ friend would, there wouldn't be nearly as much drama between us all right now."

"A _real_ friend, Zach," Diana hissed before she then pointed at Calvin and Susan. "Would accept our choices of friends, or even the fact that we have other friends besides you and each other!" She directed her finger at Zach. "A _real_ friend wouldn't be so selfishly trying to keep us to himself or forcing his own idea of proper friends upon us the way you seem to be so hellbent on doing!"

Zach mentally winced at the words, but kept his game face on. "I've invested too much on this plan to back down now," he thought to himself. "Well I'm sorry it feels that way to you," he then said aloud.

"If you were sorry, you'd stop this idiocy right this instant, let Hobbes go, and leave our friends here, one of which is my _best_ gal pal, who I might add you were willing to try to _rape_ yesterday, alone!"

"You got that right," Susan hissed in agreement.

"No kidding," Calvin grumbled.

Meanwhile, the crowd of students that had been gathering around at the area behind Zach had managed to grow considerably large; to the point of including all of Zach's fan girls, which naturally included the 13 who'd been hired to gang up on Susan the previous day. There were also various other students from all manner of castes, classes, and other groups. As they all watched the unfolding drama with varying degrees of intrigue, excitement, nervousness, bloodlust, and even smug satisfaction, the Chinese American girl who served as the ring leader of Zach's fan club chuckled. "This oughta be fun," she whispered to her two compatriots who'd been responsible for attempting to drag Susan over to Zach the previous day. The redhead and blonde in question chuckled in agreement, smug smirks on their own faces just like their leader.

Zach gritted his teeth, mentally biting his tongue to avoid losing his cool altogether right then and there. "Look, the point is, I've got business to take care of right now with both that friend of yours, and the pretender whose been granted my rightful position as deputy male lead." The eyes of the other four gleeks present promptly narrowed in rage upon hearing those last few words, but Zach either didn't notice or just didn't care.

Zach then pointed his finger at Susan while directing his gaze directly at Calvin. "I tried to get my initial business with Susan done and over with yesterday the easy way. But you and her both had your minds set on making it difficult."

"And for good reason asshole," Susan snapped. Hobbes barked thrice as if to say 'hear, hear'.

Zach took another deep breath, exhaled, and then set his gaze back to Calvin once more. "You and I," he continued, this time pointing straight at the autistic instead of the autistic's brunette neurotypical best friend. "We're going to settle this the old-fashioned way." He took a step back, lifted his arms and hands, and balled his hands into fists. "A way that you and quite a large number of my fellow jocks around here are already quite familiar with," he continued. Then he leaned his head slightly forward, eyes narrowed in concentration. "By fighting."

For a moment, Daniel, Susan, and Diana merely gaped at Zach. Then they mentally gulped, and looked in unison at Calvin. The autistic had his eyebrow raised. "A fight you say?"

"Yeah, that's right," Zach responded. "A fight, one on one, just the two of us, here and now." Zach turned his head to face the sizable crowd of students that had gathered a respectable enough distance behind him. "No assistance of any kind allowed for either combatant under any circumstances." All the students within the crowd promptly nodded their heads up and down to indicate they understood.

Zach looked back at Calvin. "We settle this once and for all; winner gets the rights to Susan, loser forfeits all claim on her and forever stays out of the winner's business and Susan's life." Even as he said this, part of him felt bad for saying such things. Of course, he had no intention of actually enforcing and going through with the latter term in the event that he won. But right now, he had an image to build and maintain, and if the entire situation was to be convincing enough to make him seem like a bad boy worthy of Charlotte's affections, then the last thing he needed at the current moment was for Daniel, Diana, or anyone else to know about those hidden details.

Susan's eyes widened in horror upon hearing this, but then they narrowed into a glare. "Like Hell that's gonna happen," she thought to herself.

Calvin, Diana, and Daniel, likewise looked angry upon hearing the terms for the loser. Daniel however, surprisingly enough, now appeared even angrier than Calvin. "Zach, you are going too far!" he roared.

Zach scoffed, and then directed a smug grin at his 'best friend'. "Please," said the African American boy. "There ain't no such thing."

"Like Hell there isn't such thing!" Diana shrieked. "Are you insane?! How can you say such things!? You can't just forcibly keep close friends apart like that!"

"Oh we'll see about that pal," said Zach.

"I'm serious!" Diana yelled. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? I'd expect something like this from Charlotte, not you!"

Zach chuckled. "Well maybe you and your friends could learn a thing or two from how Charlotte does things." He pointed at Susan. "I mean come on, surely she and I aren't the only ones who can agree that a girl like her deserves better friends then the creature of the black lagoon."

"Like Hell I do!" Susan snapped. She pointed at Calvin. "He may not fit your ideal image for a proper human being, but he is a far better friend to me or anyone else he considers a friend than a million of you!" She folded her arms across her chest, blue eyes icy with hate. "And I've said this plenty of times before to other jerks like you in prior school years; but I'd rather have just a single true friend in him then an entire school full of fake friends like you."

"Well said," said Daniel.

"You got that right," Diana agreed. She looked back at Zach. "And that's another thing Zach! Calvin and I? We actually _know_ Susan! We've known her and been friends with her far longer than you! And Calvin's been her friend even longer than I have!" She pointed her finger accusingly at Zach, her green eyes blazing venomously with rage. "And if you think that you are even remotely capable in any way of forcing a friendship of that caliber to be just up and ended permanently on your mere say so, then you've got another thing coming for you!"

"Yeah," Daniel snarled. "I don't know what's gotten into you, or what all those braindead whores around here who worship you say. You're not the boss around here for anyone! You're not a boss, you're not a king, and you sure as Hell aren't God!"

Zach felt half angry and half guilty inside, but he managed to continue hiding it with a smug smile still on his face. "Well we'll just have to see about that once I'm done with this battle now, won't we?"

"Well that's assuming you even fight this battle!" Susan yelled, arms still folded across her chest and blue eyes still icy with anger. "Let alone win!"

Zach chuckled, and stared sleazily back at Susan. "Well you're awfully confident in your little pet's chances against me, aren't you?"

"And for good reason punk."

At the sound of this husky growling comment, all the other students present directed their attention to Calvin, who was now stepping forward to a position that would allow him to be three footsteps ahead of his three friends and face to face with Zach with exactly five feet between him and the black boy. Calvin came to a stop at his desired position, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then directed a hateful, yet determined, glare at Zach. "I accept your challenge."

At that point, the crowd of students had expanded to the point that it now included virtually every McKinley High jock and cheerleader as well as the lower caste students that had already been present. In fact, the only jocks who weren't present were Becket Nelson and Donovan Gunderson; not to mention every single one of Zach's fellow basketball team mates. The only cheerios who weren't present, meanwhile, were Silena Townsend, Ashley Manning, the low ranking senior year cheerio Kimberly Chung, and Charlotte Thornton herself. Amongst the jocks present, naturally, were none other than Miles Surette and John Lipoff, who were now managing to get a full view of the events unfolding with an equal mixture of excitement, anticipation, and nerves.

"I can't believe it," Miles thought to himself half giddily and half frightened. "My rival for Susan's affections and the famed Zach Skinner are actually going to fight today! And I'm lucky enough to be present to watch." He then clasped his hands together, his fingers intertwining and a smug grin on his face. "And hilariously enough," he thought to himself. "This is a fight involving Calvin that, for once, I'm actually hoping Calvin will _win_!"

John, meanwhile, quite frankly couldn't care less who won the battle or what sort of outcome unfolded as a result of whoever turned out to be the victor. "At least I'm not the one getting my ass kicked this time," he thought to himself half smugly and half in relief as he thought of the beating that was almost certainly about to befall either of the two combatants, perhaps even to both of them considering his personal experience with fighting both Zach and Calvin in the past. Of course, unlike with Calvin, John and Miles, and most of the other jocks for that matter, had only fought Zach once each. But that wasn't really the point right now.

Calvin pointed his finger at Zach. "I'll fight you Zach, if only to get you to shut up, stop harassing Susan, and leave me, Susan, Hobbes. . ."

He gestured towards Diana and Daniel. "And all my other friends alone!" Zach barely even had a chance to register how swiftly and eagerly Calvin had just now labeled Diana and Daniel as his friends before the blonde boy pointed his finger at him once more and said, "And before you ask, the other seven glee club members you've got on the bad side of who are conveniently not present right now are my friends to!" He folded his arms across his chest, a small smug grin of his own now coming onto his face. "And now that I think about it, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turns out you've deliberately managed to set things up so that those particular seven students would be delayed and unlikely to show up to watch this even if they wanted to. Would I?"

Zach snarled. "Well maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't. That doesn't matter!" He slipped his backpack off his shoulders, threw it down on the floor nearby, and leaned backward slightly, fists still at the ready. "Let's get it on."

Calvin only grinned, and then proceeded to engage in a slow martial arts-style bow. He straightened back up and then positioned himself in a standard karate attack stance. "Ready when you are."

For the next minute or two, while all the other students present, plus Hobbes, watched, Zach and Calvin moved around in a circle, neither one all that keen on making the first move just yet without letting the other have a chance to do so. Throughout the entire time, Zach remained tensed up and clenched fisted while Calvin remained calm, relaxed, and with his hands positioned as if ready to do a karate chop.

Zach eventually started to lose patience, and he said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Attack! Start fighting already! I don't want to waste the whole day waiting for you to attack! Not when I could have already gotten it over with and left with Susan by now!"

Calvin chuckled. "You're awfully confident in your chances against me, aren't you?"

Zach couldn't help but mentally chuckle at how Calvin had just now given him a paraphrased echoing of his own thoughts from not too long ago. "Well like you said yesterday, you know my whole reputation." He nodded his head. "And thus, just like how you are well aware of my history in bed, you are also perfectly well aware that this ain't my first rodeo."

"Indeed," said Calvin. "But as you yourself also noted not too long ago, and all your so called 'friends' would agree, this ain't my first rodeo either."

"True enough," Zach admitted. He grinned. "But newsflash, just so you're warned, I never lose."

"Spoiler alert," Calvin responded, grin still on his face, not at all phased by Zach's boast. "Neither do I."

Zach chuckled. "Well I suppose one of us is going to have to say goodbye to that perfect record then."

"Indeed," said Calvin. "And spoiler alert; it's gonna be you."

Zach guffawed. "Oh really?" he said. He chuckled, unclenched his fists, and turned around a complete 180 with his arms spread out and upwards to face the audience behind him. "Can you believe him? He actually thinks he has even the slightest chance of. . ."

Right as Zach was saying that second sentence, he turned back around to face Calvin just in time for the blonde boy's fist to pound him in the face and send him briefly stumbling backwards. When Zach managed to regain his footing and avoid falling over, he shook his head to regain his bearings and looked back at Calvin in time to see the autistic boy smirking and back in his earlier relaxed karate attack stance position. "Combat rule number 1," said the autistic boy. "Never turn your back on your opponent."

Zach shook his head side to side. "I'll admit, I made a mistake there." He got back into a fighting position. "I won't make that one again."

"Noted."

Zach leaned backward in preparation, then lunged forward with a punch. Calvin hopped backwards sufficiently enough to avoid getting hit. Zach attempted another punch, only for Calvin to dodge again. Zach attempted a third punch. Calvin dodged yet again. "Wow, your opponents must have _really_ underestimated you if you were able to defeat them as easily as you did," said Calvin.

Zach snarled. In a complete rage, he swung his fists at Calvin left and right. Calvin proceeded to almost lazily dodge every single one of Zach's now purely rage fueled punches. "Dude, now you're just humiliating yourself," said Calvin.

Zach growled, now too angry to bother trying to hide it. "If I must humiliate myself like this for it, so be it." He snarled, and pointed his right finger at Calvin while keeping his left hand clenched into a fist. "Mark my words pal; I will win this fight. I will thoroughly defeat you through and through in front of everybody in this hallway. I _will_ have the rights to Susan." Calvin only laughed at this, still clearly not fully taking Zach seriously. At that point, Zach, already angry enough as it was, completely lost his head. "AND I _WILL_ BED HER, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, WHETHER SHE WANTS IT OR NOT!"

Calvin's right fist _thundered_ into Zach's face hard, harder than it had the previous moment in which he'd punched Zach, and Zach was sent stumbling backwards. By the time Zach managed to regain his balance and look back at Calvin, it took only one single look at Calvin's face and the position the autistic boy had now assumed to know that things were now about to get serious. At that moment, instead of the relaxed karate-style attack stance he'd been in before, Calvin was positioned tensely with his left fist dangling by his side and his right fist raised to near face level while his face was seemingly frozen in a furious silent snarl with his black eyes seemingly glowing with rage. Clearly, Zach's last comment from before the punch had been enough to truly set Calvin off. For now, it was clear from the way Calvin was positioned and behaving that the autistic boy was now taking this fight _very_ seriously and was no longer in the mood for messing around. And everyone else in the hall watching the proceedings knew it to.

For a few seconds, as Zach watched with a wide-eyed look of shock on his face from the pain and unexpected change in the fight's atmosphere, Calvin remained fixed in his newly assumed position, snarling and growling angrily. For Susan's honor, and effectively Susan herself, had been threatened. And Calvin no longer cared about how much damage he'd potentially cause to the boy who was supposedly the best friend of his own new friend, Daniel. For he was going to defend Susan's honor. And he was _going_ to make sure that Zach _never_ got anywhere _close_ to getting so much as even the tiniest of fractions of what he'd now clearly indicated that he wanted from her.

He stopped snarling, glared at Zach, and then lifted his left foot and took a pounding step back, incidentally positioning himself as if imitating a t-rex. He then took another pounding step backwards, this time with his right foot. He leaned forward and down, and then straightened back up, emitting a might t-rex-like roar from his mouth in the process. In that instant, Susan smiled, for she could tell that Calvin definitely meant business if he was going so far as to roar like that in the midst of a combat situation. "This fight's definitely in the bag for him now," she thought to herself. Hobbes, meanwhile, let his own canine equivalent of a smile come on his furry face as he continued to watch from the locked classroom he was still trapped in, clearly just as confident in his master's chances at winning as Susan was.

Zach continued to stare in shock at Calvin for a few seconds longer. Then his earlier smug confidence returned, and he proceeded to briefly spread his arms and show himself off for the audience gathered behind him before he then charged towards Calvin, his right fist drawn back and ready to be sent Calvin's way.

Much to Zach's shock, his fist zoomed effortlessly through thin air. Calvin had taken a step back with his left foot, simultaneously repositioning himself sideways in a style reminiscent of an opening door; a classic ninja dodging tactic he'd learned from his ninjitsu classes from his middle school years. And as a result of Calvin's well timed dodge, Zach found himself stumbling forward off balance from having not encountered any resistance with his attempted punch, and his arm ended up moving into position directly in front of Calvin's face. The autistic grabbed onto Zach's right elbow with both hands and rushed off in the direction of Daniel, Susan, and Diana, dragging Zach along with him.

When Calvin was about five feet away from his three friends, he leaned forward slightly while also letting go of Zach's arm at the same time, sending his opponent spinning off balance straight towards Susan. The dark-haired girl, out of a mixture of keeping Zach in the designated 'fighting ring' and sheer disgust at the boy, punched him in the face right as he was within range and sent him stumbling backwards towards Calvin. Calvin, taking advantage of Zach's unbalanced state and having his back turned towards him, grabbed onto an open locker door behind him, lifted himself off the floor, and dealt Zach a kangaroo-like kick to the back with both feet. Zach fell flat on his face.

Zach barely even had time to register his impact with the floor, or even the full pain of the blow to his back, before he suddenly felt someone grab him by his ankles and yank him up into the air. Calvin swung Zach to his left and slammed the black boy on the floor, Zach's back receiving the impact. Calvin swung Zach back to his right and slammed him facedown. The autistic boy then proceeded to slam Zach down left, then right, left, then right, and then left again. When he lifted Zach back in the air after his seventh slam, Calvin proceeded to spin himself around in circles three times while still holding Zach in the air. When he finally let go, Zach flew to the side, slammed into a small group of lockers, and painfully landed on his right side.

Zach had just enough time to roll over onto his back and let out a slight grunt of pain before he heard growling coming from Calvin's direction. He directed a horrified look in that direction just in time to see Calvin barrel straight towards him and lift his right foot.

Eyes widened, Zach hurriedly moved his head and neck to his left, and Calvin's foot slammed down on the empty floor space. Calvin lifted his foot again, and once again missed Zach's face when the black boy moved his head in the opposite direction. Calvin lifted his foot a third time. This time Zach moved his head several seconds before Calvin initiated his stomping attack, assuming that Calvin would continue his stomping in a left and right alternating pattern like with his prior attack.

Unfortunately for Zach, Calvin had expected for Zach to make such an assumption, as he instead stomped his foot back in the very same direction as the one Zach had just dodged prior; and thus, Zach moved his head and face directly within the ideal range for the stomp.

Zach shrieked in pain when Calvin's foot lifted back up and away from his face, gritting his teeth and clenching his eyes shut from the impact. Then he heard Calvin snarl, and he opened his eyes in time to see the autistic boy crouch, and then jump in the air as if about to do a diving fist slam. Zach reacted quickly, and lifted his feet in time to catch Calvin by the chest with both feet and swing him forwards and away from him.

Calvin's hands landed on the floor a couple feet away from Zach's position, and he masterfully turned the impact into a role. Upon successfully getting himself into a partially crouched position on both feet as a result of the role, he spent just a few seconds quickly looking left and right to make absolutely certain he hadn't harmed anyone he didn't want to hurt before swiftly turning around to face Zach once more while simultaneously straightening back up to full height.

Unfortunately, in the amount of time it had taken for Calvin to do his role, make his collateral damage check, and straighten back up and turn to face Zach once more, the black boy had been fast enough to get back on his feet, rush over to his backpack, and draw out an object that looked like some sort of spray bottle. Calvin had just enough time to notice the bottle in Zach's hands aiming straight towards his face and narrow his eyes in confusion before Zach pressed the trigger on the bottle and sent the contents within flying straight at Calvin's face.

The liquid in question landed directly upon Calvin's eyes, and all of one second passed before Calvin learned the hard way that it was hot sauce; emphasis on _hot_. The autistic boy _shrieked_ in pain, snapping his eyes closed and reflexively snapping his hands up to them. He turned around for a brief moment and furiously rubbed and wiped at his eyes to get the burning condiment out of his eyes.

Unfortunately, while his back was turned, Calvin suddenly felt something wrap around his neck from behind and yank him backwards. He reflexively reached up and grabbed what had now wrapped around his neck and was now pressing against his throat, but was too late to loosen the hold before it suddenly became uncomfortably tight and the autistic boy found himself gasping, wheezing, and choking from the tight suffocating pressure against his neck. But even as he found himself in this state, Calvin was still able to make note of the fact that Zach's right arm was the object in question around his neck that was currently being used to strangle him, and that the black boy also had his left hand positioned directly on Calvin's left shoulder to hold himself in place for the chokehold.

As this entire tableau continued to unfold, Diana, Daniel, and Susan found themselves gaping in horror as Zach continued to seemingly strangle Calvin, even as the autistic boy began to become increasingly frantic and similarly in a bad state from the garroting effect he was being subjected to. However, what left them even more horrified was how Gregory and a clear majority of the students amongst the crowd gathered on the opposite side of the 'fighting ring' were smirking smugly at the whole thing despite the fact that Zach was seemingly attempting to _kill_ his opponent. The Chinese American ring leader of Zach's fan girl cult even went so far as to chuckle. "That's right Zach Attack," she thought to herself. "Show him who's king around here."

Granted, a small number of the students in the audience also looked unnerved and horrified at what was going on just like Susan, Daniel, and Diana were. But of course, the three gleeks in question were too horrified and concerned themselves to notice or care about that detail. Hobbes was also clearly aware of and terrified of what was happening to his master, and he in fact felt even more strongly affected by the news since all instincts and training were _howling_ agonizingly loudly in his mind that he _needed_ to help his master; a task that the current locked door to the classroom he was trapped in was very aggravatingly and painfully preventing him from doing. In fact, after about a few seconds of pounding his front paws against the door and barking and snarling like crazy, he went so far as to attempt to bust his way out by ramming himself against the door five times. And when not even _that_ ploy worked, he banged on the door with his front paws a few more times before then lifting his head up to face the ceiling of the classroom he was trapped in and unleashing an ear-splitting HOWL of rage, despair, and anguish.

The instant Susan heard Hobbes howling in that particular fashion, she snapped out of her dazed state of horrified shock and yelled, "Stop! Stop this! You're choking him!"

"I know," Zach grunted coldly, not letting up in the slightest even as Calvin continued to hiss and wheeze. Quite frankly, as far as Zach or anyone else could tell, it was a miracle the poor autistic was even still conscious right now, let alone alive.

"That's all you have to say?!" Diana shouted. "You're _killing_ him!"

"So I am," said Zach.

Daniel's gray eyes narrowed, blazing with rage, and he clenched his fists. "Zach," he snarled. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but you need to stop this! And I mean _NOW_!"

Zach directed a glare at his best friend. "Forget it," he hissed. "You threw your lot in with this _thing_."

Calvin, in pain and at risk of choking to death as he was, still couldn't help but narrow his eyes and snarl upon hearing the word Zach had just now chosen to refer to him by. Zach, of course, didn't care about that detail.

"You tell him man!" yelled one of the hockey players amongst the audience.

"YEAH!" all the other audience members on Zach's side.

At the sound of this, Diana and Daniel glared hatefully at the audience, fists clenched and eyes blazing. Susan, however, had eyes and ears only for Calvin and what was happening to him. Practically shaking now from a mixture of terror and despair, and her blue eyes clearly on the verge of tears, she managed to say. "Zach," she managed to say. "Please," she begged. "Let him go. You're killing him; let him go!"

Zach directed his attention at Susan, a smug grin now replacing the angry glare he'd been directing at Daniel. "Say yes to my bedding offer, and maybe I will."

In a flash, Susan's eyes narrowed and iced over with rage, and she reared back in disgust. "Never!" she yelled.

Zach made a 'tsk, tsk', and shook his head side to side. Then he tightened his arm even more around Calvin's neck. "Say goodbye to your friend then."

As Calvin's hissing and wheezing proceeded to intensify, Susan's angry look promptly morphed back into a near tear stricken face full of horror and despair. She then closed her eyes, still nearly in tears, and now in a very painful mental turmoil as she fought desperately to decide whether to stay upon her high horse and risk letting Calvin die, or humble herself and stoop as low as Zach was suggesting so she could save Calvin's life.

"Zach," Daniel snarled. "Stop this now!"

Zach chuckled, and looked back at Daniel. "Oh please," he practically purred. "Why should I do that? Lord knows she and the rest of the world will be so much better without him. I mean hey, a girl like her? She deserves a real man like me; not an animal like him." Of course, Zach didn't truly mean any of these hurtful things he was saying. In fact, he was not at all genuinely planning on killing Calvin at all. The closest he planned to come to that was to choke him only into unconsciousness and letting go of him in time to allow him to stay alive. But of course, right now, he had an image to build for Charlotte, and Daniel, Diana, and Susan didn't need to know about all the subtle details just yet.

However, while Zach was speaking, he (and in fact everyone else present in the area for that matter) failed to notice two huge details. For one, Calvin had stopped coughing and wheezing. Secondly, the agonized look of pain and lack of air had transformed into a silent feral snarl complete with gritted teeth and wide open black eyes that were now practically glowing with rage. And to further sink things in, the autistic boy was looking directly at the still crying and mentally turmoiled Susan. The sight of Susan in that state, and knowing full well both who and what was responsible, was all Calvin needed to see.

In a flash, Calvin let go of the arm around his neck and extended his hands sufficiently enough to clasp them together behind Zach's neck and push Zach against the back of his head. No sooner had he done this, and Zach widened his eyes in surprise at the unexpected move from Calvin, when the autistic boy rushed forward with his eyes closed, a savage t-rex-like roar erupting from his mouth.

Mere seconds later, right as all the onlookers had managed to start gaping in shock, and Susan managed to open her eyes and gape in shock and teary eyed relief at the sight of Calvin clearly not about to go down or give up just yet, Calvin leaned over and managed to successfully initiate a front flip. Zach, much to his shock, found himself being lifted up in the air as Calvin successfully started his front flip, and then found himself falling back down towards the ground with his back clearly about to suffer the impact as Calvin naturally started to tip over as per the second half of the front flip. Zach had literally _just_ come to realize this information when Calvin's front flip ended, resulting in Zach being painfully _pounded_ against the floor and sandwiched between the floor and Calvin's back. The jarringly painful impact and suffocating situation Zach found himself in was also enough to jar him into undoing the chokehold he'd had Calvin in and withdrawing his arm and hand from Calvin's neck and shoulder.

Zach was still reeling from the pain, and thus was unable to react or do anything to stop Calvin from straightening himself back onto his feet right on top of Zach. No sooner had Calvin gotten back on his feet when he jumped up, both of his feet pounding onto Zach's neck upon landing. And even worse, Calvin used the landing of his feet against Zach's neck as a means to propel himself into initiating a string of back flips in the direction of Susan, Daniel, and Diana. After his fourth back flip, Calvin skidded to a halt with his left hand seemingly scratching against the floor while his right arm was extended diagonally upwards towards some lockers. At that point, as the three gleeks behind him stared in wonder and joy, Hobbes barked triumphantly at his master, and Gregory looked on in horror at the turn around that had just occurred, Calvin glared back in Zach's direction, snarled, and let out another t-rex-like roar.

Zach painfully got up onto his hands and knees, his left hand on his throat, gasping and wheezing in pain with his eyes closed and facing the floor. He managed, with great effort, to shake his head clear of the pained feeling and lift his head to face back in the direction of Calvin, only to find himself literally face to face with the still clearly enraged autistic just in time for the blonde boy to unleash yet another t-rex-like roar right in Zach's face.

Zach shrieked, and reflexively leaped backwards and tried to crab-walk backwards away from the angry t-rex positioned autistic; only for Calvin to grab Zach by the shoulders, yank him forward, and shake him side to side before then tossing him away to the right. Zach slammed against the lockers and collapsed onto the floor, groaning in pain.

Calvin wasted no time, rushing straight towards Zach, flawlessly imitating a velociraptor in movement style and then leaping towards the black boy in an equally velociraptor-like style. The autistic landed right behind Zach as the black boy had gotten onto his hands and knees, at which point he lifted his right foot, placed it against Zach's back, and proceeded to painfully drag it slowly down across his opponent's back, the running spikes underneath the 'toe' section of the shoe digging through Zach's clothes and into Zach's skin and leaving painful scratch marks. Zach shrieked at the unexpected cutting sensation he felt on his back, his eyes widened in shock and pain, only for Calvin to then grab onto the back of his head and slam him face-first against the locker door immediately to the black boy's left. Zach didn't even time to fully register his face's impact with the locker door before Calvin then yanked him backwards and sent him stumbling towards the lockers on the other side of the hall.

Zach crashed into the locker directly behind him. Of the two, the one on the top row was wide open. Zach barely even had time to notice that detail before Calvin had that detail sunk very painfully deep into the black boy's mind by slamming it shut right _on_ Zach's head, face, and neck. Zach only felt a brief flash of pain before Calvin just as swiftly yanked the locker door back open and threw him off to the side once more. Zach crashed into that side's lockers and collapsed to the floor yet again. And just like before, Zach managed to get on his hands and knees. This time, however, he was able to turn his head in time to see Calvin barreling towards him once more while unleashing a fourth furious t-rex-like roar and having a downright _murderous_ look on his face.

Zach barely even had time to register the fact that Calvin was charging and roaring at him yet again before Calvin lunged the last of the remaining distance between them, grabbed onto Zach's shoulders, and clenched his teeth around Zach's neck. Zach had just enough time for his eyes to widen and his teeth to grit in a pained hiss from the feeling of Calvin biting his neck before the impact with Calvin's slamming into Zach combined with the autistic boy's weight caused the two combatants to topple onto the floor and roll across the floor over each other in the direction of Diana, Susan, and Daniel.

The two boys came to a stop in time for Calvin to let go and incidentally roll to a stop back to full upright position while Zach was left lying around his back. And in the time it took for Zach to hurriedly shake off his newest feelings of pain and get back on his feet, Calvin had already managed to stick his hands into Zach's partially opened backpack that was still lying around, and yank out none other than the very same hot sauce spray bottle that Zach had used to incapacitate him before. And Zach had literally just managed to get himself to directly face Calvin's direction when the autistic successfully unscrewed the lid from the bottle and thrusted the bottle towards Zach, sending the entirety of the remaining hot sauce within flying at the black boy's face.

The entire bottle's worth of hot sauce splashed unforgivingly into Zach's face, but especially in his eyes. Zach _howled_ in agony, slammed his hands against his eyes, and came worrisomely close to gouging his eyes out with his own fingernails as he found himself stepping backwards and thrashing his head side to side in pain.

Even as Zach continued to howl and thrash in agony from the hot sauce, with all of his supporters looking on in horror and Calvin's supporters smirking smugly at Zach's expense, Calvin snarled, threw the now empty spray bottle in the air, yanked a steel baseball bat out of a nearby open locker, and smashed the bottle against the lockers with the bat right as it was falling back towards the floor. The steel bat smashed the empty bottle against the lockers with sufficient enough force to shatter the bottle into pieces. Calvin didn't even register the fact that he'd shattered the hot sauce spray bottle before he started spinning the baseball bat around in his hands in stereotypical martial arts master-style. Upon finishing his display, Calvin drew the bat backwards, and then swung it at Zach so hard that it took all of 10 seconds for the otherwise recovered Zach to even register the impact after the baseball bat dealt a _thundering_ blow against his throat.

Zach stumbled backwards, hacking and wheezing from the thunderous blow to his throat from the steel baseball bat, landing unflatteringly on his backside. Calvin narrowed his eyes at his downed enemy, snarled, and then threw the baseball bat upwards and back. The steel sports tool slammed into the nearest ceiling lamp and clattered jarringly against the floor behind Calvin. Calvin, paying no attention to those details behind him, snarled again, snapped his head to face his right while emitting a loud t-rex-like roar at the lockers on that side of the hall. Then he snapped his head to face his left while emitting a second t-rex-like roar at the lockers on _that_ side. He then turned his head to face Zach, glare still on his face, pawed his left foot back and forth like a bull, and then started charging towards Zach once more. And in the time he spent charging, Calvin still had enough time to snap his head to face the lockers to his left, and then to face the lockers on his right, roaring like a t-rex both times. And once he was finished roaring, Calvin took only three seconds to reach Zach's position, at which point he slammed his head into Zach's chest and pushed him backwards straight towards two conveniently open locker doors.

Zach was slammed, back-first, against the two locker doors. Only then did Calvin come to a stop and step back. And even so, Calvin only spent all of two seconds shaking his head like a dog and grumbling before he then emitted another t-rex-like roar at Zach, grabbed the black boy by the shoulders, and yanked him forward and past himself. Zach didn't even get the chance to finish his stumbling and come to a stop before Calvin grabbed his shoulders from behind and yanked him backwards, sending the black boy stumbling past Calvin once more. This time, Zach managed to stumble to a stop and straighten back up, only to then see Calvin crouch with bent knees before the autistic then proceeded to literally pounce on Zach. Thus the two boys toppled to the floor and rolled over each other across the floor once again, but this time in the direction of the audience gathered opposite Diana, Daniel, and Susan.

Upon sight of this, Daniel and Diana instinctively began to step forward, momentarily forgetting their current anger at Zach. But then they snapped to a stop when Susan extended her arms out sideways directly in front of them to block their path. "You stay right here," Susan practically hissed as she to watched the current stage of the tableau that was unfolding. "Calvin's got this, and that so called 'friend' of yours deserves what he's getting."

At the exact same moment that Susan was saying this, Zach and Calvin had managed to stop rolling around and reposition themselves so that Zach was standing up straight and moving around in circles while Calvin had himself securely latched onto Zach's back in a piggyback position. As Zach continued to frantically move around in circles in an ineffectual attempt at shaking Calvin lose, the autistic boy reared his head up to face the ceiling, roared like a t-rex once more, and then detached his hands and arms from around Zach's neck while simultaneously leaning his upper body backward so that his hands could touch the floor. The instant Calvin's palms were touching the floor, the autistic boy tightened his legs and feet around Zach's chest even further and proceeded to do a backflip, causing the black boy to be lifted into the air and then emphatically slammed down, face-first, against the floor when Calvin finished his flip.

Zach managed to do a slight push-up, groaning in pain. He lifted his head to face Calvin's direction once more, only for his eyes to widen at the sight of Calvin mere centimeters in front of him as the autistic barreled straight towards him in a style reminiscent of a charging triceratops. Zach didn't even get the chance to scream before Calvin's head slammed into his face and jolted him into flipping over with another pounding impact against the floor, but this time on his back instead of his face. Zach got himself into a partially seated position, his eyes still closed, only to suddenly be yanked forward by his right ankle, and he fell back with a scream and his eyes snapping wide open as Calvin proceeded to drag him back in the opposite direction.

At the halfway point in the 'ring', Calvin stopped running, lifted Zach up, and swung him around in circles again before sending him flying off to the side once more. Zach crashed into the lockers yet again. He had only just landed from this latest impact against the lockers when Calvin reached his position, grabbed him by the shoulders, and yanked him up and sent him stumbling towards the lockers on the opposite side of the hall. As Zach's current string of bad luck would have it, he ended up crashing headfirst into the lockers. This time, however, he had the small mercy in that the locker his head crashed into was already open. But mere seconds later, even this small mercy was quickly soured when he suddenly felt yet another sting across his neck, but this time feeling far more intense on the back of his neck and head rather than the front, as a result of Calvin rapidly slamming the locker door shut on his head and just as rapidly reopening it. Zach was still feeling the sting of the impact from the slamming locker door when Calvin grabbed him by the shoulders, yanked him backwards, and sent him crashing back-first into the lockers behind him.

Zach hurriedly shook his head side to side and regained his bearings, only to then directly face Calvin's direction in time to see the autistic boy barreling towards him in a style reminiscent of a pachycephalosaurus. Calvin's head slammed into Zach's face and caused the back of Zach's head to pound against the locker behind him. Calvin hopped back slightly as a result of the impact, emitted a reptilian mixture between a squeal and a hoot that must have been his personal idea of what a pachycephalosaurus sounded like in real life, and then proceeded to seemingly moon walk backwards on one leg while flapping his arms up and down like a bird and unleashing pteranodon-like shrieks. The autistic boy came to a stop with his back just inches away from the lockers on that side of the hall, set his left foot back on the floor, and beckoned for Zach to come over with a smug 'come and get me' grin on his face.

Zach fell for the obvious trick, and angrily started rushing towards Calvin; albeit, with a clear limp in his step. It took all of Calvin's willpower not to burst out laughing at how pathetic Zach was now looking in his continued efforts to attack; and once Zach was two feet away from reaching Calvin and punching him, the autistic dove down sideways while simultaneously using his legs to sweep Zach's own legs out from under him. Zach slammed face-first against the lockers that had been behind Calvin and collapsed onto the floor while Calvin calmly spun around back to full height and in ideal position to face the downed basketball captain.

Giving his opponent no time to recover, Calvin grabbed Zach by the shoulders, yanked him up onto his feet, and then started running in circles while still gripping Zach, and simultaneously heading gradually in the direction of Diana, Susan, and Daniel. As the three other gleeks in question watched intently with their own heads and eyes involuntarily swirling and spinning, Calvin came to a stop in time to send Zach spinning in circles away. And within seconds, the spinning and wildly off kilter Zach ended up crashing right into a glass display alcove that contained a portion of the Cheerio championship victory trophies, landing painfully on his back amidst the shattered glass and miraculously undamaged scattered trophies.

Zach winced, feeling twinges of pain in his back from the various shards of glass. Then he felt Calvin grab onto his shoulders again, and he was yanked back on his feet and tossed aside. This time, Zach managed to stumble sideways about two or three feet before successfully coming to a stop, and without even falling. But Calvin was still not finished, and he grabbed one of the larger trophies that had been expelled from the trophy display, swung it upwards, and slammed Zach in the face with it, sending the black boy stumbling backwards all over again.

Zach was still in the midst of stumbling when Calvin snarled, tossed the trophy in the air behind him, and sent it flying backward with a back left kick. The trophy landed on the floor several feet behind him and in front of his three friends with a sufficient enough impact to shatter it into pieces. Calvin, not at all aware of or caring about the trophy's fate, surged forward and started relentlessly punching Zach in the chest and ribs. His left and right fists unforgivingly rammed into Zach's ribs in a brutal left and right alternating pattern, and soon proceeded to gradually move faster and faster until it eventually reached the point that Zach felt as if the Flash himself were the one punching him instead of a mere mortal. And as if to make the whole experience worse, Calvin was not only punching Zach at the speed and strength he was currently using, but he was also continuously moving forward to maintain pace with Zach as the black boy was forced to continue stepping back under the force of the impact, thus depriving Zach of any chance of relief. And as Calvin continued his merciless onslaught, he kept his teeth gritted into a silent snarl that slowly transformed into a not so silent snarl, and then into a growl. And then, after what felt like an eternity to Zach, Calvin stopped his rapid-fire punching, jumped, and initiated a back flip. And as a direct result of his position from when he started, he dealt a powerful kick to Zach's face that sent the black boy flying. And naturally, at literally the exact moment that his foot struck Zach's face and the black boy was only seconds away from beginning his rapid flight backwards from the impact, Calvin opened his mouth and allowed his growl to instantly transform into a full-on roar.

For a few seconds, Zach rocketed backward through the air, reeling from the impact of Calvin's foot against his face. Then the apparent eternity ended, and Zach landed painfully on his back on the floor with a thud. It seemed to Zach that all of two seconds passed after his landing before Calvin was suddenly at his position again, and the autistic grabbed him by the shoulders, yanked him back on his feet, and then slammed him back-first against the lockers high enough for his feet to dangle above the floor. Zach didn't even get the chance to fully register this detail before Calvin roared, drew his right fist back while keeping his left hand firmly gripped on Zach's right shoulder, and started brutally punching Zach in the face. As Calvin proceeded to punch Zach in the face again and again while emitting a series of exertive grunts with each fist strike, even Susan, Diana, and Daniel couldn't help but wince at the sight of the brutal beating Zach was being treated to. In fact, the punches were so strong that the impact was enough to cause his hands to bounce back and forth against the lockers he was being pinned against. After the 28th punch, Calvin drew his fist back once more, let out a throaty scream, and then punched Zach in the face for the 29th and final time; and this time far harder than he had the previous 28 times. All of five seconds later, Calvin hurled Zach to the side once more. The black boy crashed upon the floor and bounced twice before skidding to a stop on his right side while positioned so that he was still facing in the direction of Calvin and his three obvious supporters within the hallway.

Calvin growled, leaned his head forward slightly, and then proceeded to take on a full t-rex like position and start to slowly stomp his way towards Zach, growling and rumbling like the very dinosaur he was imitating in the process. As the autistic proceeded to slowly stomp his way towards his apparently downed opponent, Susan, Hobbes, and all the jocks present who'd had experience with fighting Calvin before couldn't help but gape at the sight with facial expressions that made it quite clear that they were feeling rather unnerved. And for good reason to.

"Miles," said John as he and the rest of the onlookers watched the scene currently unfolding. "Has he ever been this slow in giving a battle a decisive end before?"

"No," Miles responded nervously, yet at the same time with a mixture of pride and relief as he watched Calvin continue to advance uncharacteristically slowly towards Zach. "He's never taken his time like this before."

Calvin continued to stomp his way towards Zach, gradually increasing his speed in the process. As the audience gathered behind the downed Zach continued to watch the seemingly victorious autistic advancing towards him, all of Zach's many supporters found themselves becoming increasingly nervous and panicked at the fact that Zach still hadn't yet managed to get back on his feet, as well as how his opponent was even now advancing towards him so slowly despite having apparently already won.

"Come on," the Chinese American ringleader of Zach's fangirls thought to herself nervously. "What are you doing Zach? Get up!"

After a few seconds, all of Zach's other supporters in the audience started voicing out loud for Zach to get up, cheering encouragement and likewise trying their damned hardest to get Zach inspired enough to get back on his feet despite the current odds against him. Zach heard all the cheering and support from his fans, and he felt his heart warm up as a result. However, sadly for him, despite all the support he was hearing from his fans and how much his mind was desperately willing himself to try to get up and not disappoint them, his body just could not gather the strength needed to get up. The pain he was now feeling was far too strong. And as a result, Zach could only continue lying where he was, helplessly watching as Calvin continued to advance dangerously closer and closer to him while simultaneously listening to the desperate cheering and encouragement from his fans that he wanted so desperately not to disappoint, yet at the same time had no choice but to let down in the current situation.

Calvin came to a stop with his feet practically centimeters away from Zach's abdomen, and the autistic boy glared at his fallen foe, a silent snarl on his face as he rumbled ominously like the dinosaur he was still in the midst of imitating. As all of Zach's supporters looked on in horror and Calvin's supporters smirked smugly, Calvin turned his head to look to his right and unleashed a blaring t-rex-like roar. He turned his head to look to his left and unleashed a 2nd such roar. He turned his head to look behind him and emitted a 3rd t-rex-like roar. He turned his head to face Zach once more and emitted a 4th t-rex-like roar. Then he tensed up, lifted his head up to face the ceiling, and allowed a 5th, and this time louder and more drawn out t-rex-like roar. Zach could only wince as the clearly victorious Calvin continued to prolong whatever it was that he had planned, for Zach was now only receiving further direct confirmation from the procrastination that he was well and truly beaten; and Calvin knew it to.

Calvin finally ended his roar, lowered his head back to its normal position, and glared down at Zach, his black eyes burning with hate, and his teeth gritted ominously. Zach mentally gulped, closed his eyes, and weakly extended his right hand up and towards Calvin. "Calvin, please," he managed to gasp. "Don't."

In an action that left Susan, Hobbes, Miles, and all of Calvin's other previous opponents even more shocked then before, Calvin drew back his right leg and kicked Zach thunderously in the abdomen, sending the black boy rolling towards the audience behind him. The audience in question all instinctively moved backward in shock and fright from the sight, clearly just as stunned by what had just happened. No sooner had Zach come to a stop when Calvin crouched, took three running steps forward, and then leaped through the air before coming to a crashing crouching land directly in front of the still downed Zach once more. Zach involuntarily winced at the sight and sound of Calvin coming to this newest crashing landing before him, only for his eyes to then widen in horror at both the fact that Calvin was once again within more than sufficient range to directly touch him and the hateful snarl that was still on the autistic boy's face. "Oh Hell," Zach thought to himself. "I am so screwed right now."

Zach couldn't have been more correct in his thoughts. Calvin knew full well that he'd won, and he knew full well what he had, as far as he knew, managed to avert in the process. And he had every intention to make sure that Zach would be made painfully and fully aware of how thoroughly he'd been beaten. And if that meant physically breaking him in both body and spirit at that moment, then all the better the way Calvin now saw it. For right now, he hated Zach so much, especially compared to all the other jocks and bullies he'd fought in previous battles, that he was more than willing to make an exception to his usual behavior shown towards the foes he defeated.

"Get up," Calvin said coldly before he then dealt Zach a thundering kick to the ribs with his left foot. Zach winced from the painful impact, but otherwise did nothing. Calvin took a step back with his right foot. "I said get up." His right foot slammed into Zach's ribs in a second thundering kick.

"This . . . this isn't him," one of the subordinate rugby players said nervously. "He's never done anything like _this_ to us before."

"Clearly," said Miles. "Calvin must _really_ not like Zach if he's going so far as to kick him like this while he's already down and defeated."

Miles and the others who'd had prior experience in fighting Calvin had no idea how right he was, for Calvin was still mentally seething with a level of hatred that his current outward appearance and outlook _still_ managed to bely. "You said that Susan deserves a real man like you," Calvin hissed. "Not an animal like me."

Zach's eyes widened with horror and despair as he found himself remembering painfully clearly how he had indeed said those very words while he'd been in the midst of attempting to strangle Calvin and make it look as if he were legitimately trying to kill Calvin in an effort to bolster his bad boy image in the making. Needless to say, at that moment, mere words couldn't possibly describe how much he was regretting having said those words, not to mention taken part in the actions he'd been doing while saying them.

"Well if that's true," Calvin continued spitefully. "Why don't you prove it?" He dealt Zach another thundering kick to the ribs with his left foot. "And get up?" He dealt Zach yet another kick to the ribs with his right foot. Zach could only wince, groaning in pain. Calvin snarled, a mixture of hate and smug pride in his eyes. "Didn't think you would," he practically purred. "Because underneath all that bravado and unstoppable king of the school spiel, you're nothing but a coward!" He kicked Zach again. "And all you'll ever be is a coward!" He kicked Zach yet again.

Zach didn't even have a chance to recover from the 6th kick to his ribs before Calvin lifted his right foot, allowing the entire crowd gathered behind Zach to get a clear view of the sharp tiny spikes on the underside of the 'toe' section, and then stomped it down hard on Zach's side. Zach shrieked from the combined pain of the impact and the spikes lightly jabbing into him.

Calvin only glared at Zach. "They say that you're a king of warriors and lovers around here." Zach cringed, still reeling from the pain and fearing what Calvin yet seemed to have in mind to continue the current torture. "But we all know the truth now," Calvin snarled. He lifted his right foot back up. "You're no king."

Stomp.

"You're no king!"

Stomp.

"You're just a lowly peasant!"

Stomp.

"On a false throne!"

Stomp.

After this 5th stomp in a row, Calvin removed his foot from Zach's exposed right side entirely. "And you're certainly ain't no warrior either," the autistic continued. "A true warrior fights fair. You don't." He kicked Zach in the ribs once more with his left foot, a thunderous _thud_ piercing the air upon impact.

Calvin took a step back with his right foot. "A true warrior knows how to pick his battles. You don't."

Thud!

"A true warrior accepts his losses and admits defeat. You don't!"

Thud!

"And you're most certainly not a lover either," Calvin roared, now clearly both on a roll and getting even _angrier_ then he'd already been. "A real lover lets love come to and choose him instead of trying to forcibly choose it himself. You don't!"

Thud!

"A real lover respects the wishes of his chosen object of affections and puts her happiness before his own; you don't!"

Thud!

"A real lover loves his chosen object of affections for what's on the inside as well as what's on the outside; YOU DON'T!"

THUD!

Zach shrieked in pain as an ominous cracking noise split the air alongside the thud from Calvin's right foot thundering into his ribs. The audience gaped and gasped in shock at this new development. Even Calvin's own supporters were reasonably shocked at what Calvin had just now managed to achieve in his rage.

"I'd rather deal with Miles Surette over you any day!" Calvin snarled. He pointed his finger at Zach, eyes still narrowed in a furious glare. "He may be a devil, but he at least has the decency to treat Susan with respect!"

Susan and Hobbes couldn't help but close their eyes and nod their heads up and down in agreement. Even Miles couldn't help but silently whistle, and nod his own head up and down in agreement as well.

"And not only that," Calvin growled. "But he at least hasn't actively tried to kill me either!"

THUD!

Zach screamed in pain once more from Calvin's second kick to be dealt upon him at a considerably higher strength and level of force than the others.

Miles winced. "He certainly has a point there," he thought to himself.

Calvin took a brief break from his string of merciless kicks, snarling and growling as he struggled to somewhat keep it together. "They say you have a bright future beyond comprehension ahead of you," Calvin growled. "Well you have no future!"

Thud.

"You. Have. No. Future!"

Thud.

"You're destined to forever be a luckless bastard!"

Thud.

"Looking for money, fights, and love in all the wrong places!"

Thud.

"Violating, dehumanizing, and similarly ravaging. . ."

Thud.

"Poor, innocent, friendly girls who don't have good friends like me around to defend them!"

Thud.

"And if, by some impossible miracle, you manage to fall in love for real," Calvin hissed.

Thud.

"THEN GOD HELP WHATEVER LUCKLESS WENCH YOU CHOOSE!"

THUD!

Zach shrieked in agony once more at this third blow of extremely high force.

Calvin snarled, either not noticing, or just not caring the agony his downed opponent was in. He then lifted his right foot, his shoe spikes ominously gleaming in the light, and then slammed his foot down so that both his foot, and the spikes on the bottom of his shoe, ominously pounded on the floor literally a single centimeter away from Zach's neck.

Zach gaped at the foot that had just so narrowly missed his neck, only to have his attention drawn back to Calvin once more when he heard the still angry autistic snarling.

"Consider that a warning," said Calvin. "For if there ever is a next time, then next time," he continued. "I! WON'T! MISS!"

Right as he shouted that last word, Calvin thrusted his head down so that his face was just inches away from Zach's face. Calvin snarled and growled, his black eyes now seemingly like black holes that were boring hatefully straight into Zach's very soul. Zach gulped, and found himself mentally fighting to keep himself from crying. Never had he felt more helpless and utterly broken then he did now at Calvin's mercy.

Calvin snarled, stuck his tongue out in disgust, and then started to straighten back up, only to then notice one person that he vaguely remembered seeing amongst the group that worked with the still struggling McKinley High school paper, the Muckraker, standing at the front of the audience with a giddy smile on his face and his phone at the ready to take a picture. Upon sight of this, Calvin's disgusted glare morphed into a smug smirk as he thought of an idea to further humiliate and scare Zach and allow the word of the defeat to spread even faster. Without warning, he thrusted his head back towards Zach's face, snapping his teeth on thin air dangerously close to the black boy's face and neck, and growling and snarling like a t-rex the entire time. As he did this, some of the other Muckraker worker students present in the audience started drawing out their own phones and cameras and following their comrade's lead in positioning for taking advantage of an ideal photo opportunity. Then, literally just as all of the Muckraker workers present had gotten in the right position and their cameras ready, Calvin lifted his right foot, stomped down on Zach, and lifted his head dramatically while emitting a triumphant t-rex-like roar in an almost exact mirror of the famous t-rex sendoff scene at the end of the first Jurassic Park movie. All the Muckraker workers couldn't have been more obliged, nor more on time and in perfect synch, to take a perfect photographic shot of the dramatic scene. The instant Calvin had deemed himself finished with his brief moment of showing off, he turned his back to Zach and the gathered audience, sent the downed black boy rolling away once more with a final thundering kick to the ribs, and then stomped off in the direction of Susan and his friends, roaring triumphantly like a t-rex yet again.

As this happened, Susan couldn't have looked happier as she clasped her hands together and gazed admiringly at Calvin with tears of joy on the verge of streaming down her face. Daniel and Diana, likewise, looked happy at the current development. And as luck would have it, they weren't the only gleeks currently present and watching. For at the exact same moment that Calvin had been busy with his kicking and stomping, the four sophomore gleeks, plus the trio of Cody, Bailey, and Raj had finally managed to arrive in that particular hallway and join up with their fellow gleeks. And naturally, they were just as impressed, proud, and happy to see the results of what had gone down while they were busy dealing with their own unexpected drama. For while they could easily get the full story later, the basic gist was already somewhat clear enough in their minds. Zach and Calvin had engaged in a fight, it had been an absolutely _brutal_ fight, and Calvin had _won_.

Calvin came to a stop directly in front of Susan, lowered his head slightly while still positioned in a t-rex-like body posture, rumbling in satisfaction with what sounded almost like a rumbling reptilian purring. Susan smiled, blue eyes still on the verge of happy tears as she tentatively reached her hands towards Calvin. "You won."

Calvin nodded his head. "Yes, I did," he admitted. He smiled warmly at Susan. "I won Susan. I beat that bastard." He pointed his finger behind him at the still downed Zach. "I defeated him. I completely, utterly, thoroughly beat him. And as the winner, I get all the benefits he promised to go to the winner in his deal from before we fought." His smile widened, his black eyes now agleam with such joy that not even the tiniest speck remained of the hatred that had been burning within them not too long ago towards Zach. "He'll never bother you again. You're safe now Susan. From him, and from all others who dare try to follow in his foul footsteps. Of this, I swear."

As overly passionate and borderline cheesy as these lines from Calvin sounded, the other 9 gleeks present alongside him and Susan couldn't help but smile warmly at the scene. Susan, naturally, sniffled, joyous tears now freely streaming out of her eyes and down her face. Then she raised herself on the tips of her toes and gave Calvin a tight hug, which Calvin promptly returned, his eyes closed, and his earlier contented saurian purring making a heartwarming return.

"I guess this means we can all leave now?"

The gleeks all looked bemusedly at Darren. Then they all grinned. Then Calvin opened his mouth as if about to speak . . . only to then pause, seem to think to himself, and then narrow his eyes as his happy face morphed back into a withering glare.

"First things first," Calvin growled.

He turned around to face the still numbly standing Gregory and the locked door to the classroom that Hobbes was still currently trapped in, and barreled over to the rugby captain. He skidded to a stop directly in front of McGuire, and the rugby captain had literally just noticed Calvin's presence in that area when Calvin snarled, "Fight's over. I won." He pointed at the locked door directly behind the other boy. "Open the door now."

For a brief moment, Gregory's usual smug arrogance from before returned, and he scowled condescendingly at the angry autistic boy. "Make me you retard."

"I said," Calvin snarled. "OPEN THE DOOR NOW!"

At the exact moment Calvin shouted that last word, he thrusted his head forward at Gregor's face without warning, causing the rugby captain to jolt his head back in shock, incidentally banging it lightly against the door window that Hobbes was still peeking through. And for what seemed like an eternity, Gregory found himself frozen and panting in sudden horror at the sight of Calvin's furious face complete with gaping mouth showing off his teeth, his black eyes darkened with rage to the point of looking like black holes boring into his soul, and an unnervingly bestial sounding string of snarls and growls emanating from the autistic boy's mouth.

In that instant, Gregory both realized just how dangerous an opponent Calvin could be when angry enough, and remembered how Calvin had both kicked the asses of himself and countless other jocks before, as well as utterly _demolished_ Zach Skinner himself in combat, and he gulped, all his arrogance gone and replaced by fear. "Yes sir," he stated meekly.

The rugby captain hurriedly turned around and started fiddling around with the locked doorknob to the classroom that Hobbes was trapped in. Hobbes saw and heard this going on, and took five steps back. As Hobbes and everyone in the hallway found themselves unexpectedly being kept waiting as Gregor found himself having considerable difficulty with his current task in his panic, Calvin folded his arms across his chest, looked at his watch, and proceeded to tap his foot against the floor in time with each passing second.

After a total of exactly 60 seconds, and thus 60 taps of his foot, Calvin narrowed his eyes and leaned his head forwards towards the panicking Gregor, clearly having already managed to lose his patience in his lingering anger. "What's taking so long?"

It took all of Gregor's willpower not to scream or suffer a panic attack. "Just stay calm," he managed to state, both to himself and to Calvin. "I've almost got it unlocked!"

"You'd better," Calvin snarled. "Because if that door is still not unlocked in 10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2 . . .!"

A small clicking noise split the air lightly and Gregory whipped around to directly face Calvin once more with his hands raised in a placatory gesture. "It's unlocked! It's unlocked! It's unlocked!" the rugby captain screamed, clearly desperate to avoid suffering some sort of painful beating from Calvin for taking too long to unlock the door and allow for Hobbes to be capable of being released from the classroom.

"Good," said Calvin. He took a step to his left, pulled down the door knob, and opened the door a couple inches.

"Hobbes," said the autistic boy. "Jump."

Hobbes complied with his master's command almost instantaneously, and he pounced on the just open enough door sufficiently enough to emphatically send it rocketing the rest of the way open. And in the process, Gregory was sent flying backward as a result of the abruptly opening door slamming into him.

The rugby captain landed flat on his back a yard or two away, and Hobbes landed smoothly on his feet outside the classroom he'd finally been released from. The German Shepherd turned its head to snarl at the downed rugby captain, clearly hoping to subject him to its mercy, only for Calvin to then say, "Stay." Hobbes snarled, and obediently stayed where he was in a tense battle-ready position as Calvin rushed over to the downed Gregory.

Upon reaching Gregory's current position, Calvin lifted his right foot and stomped down hard on the other boy's face. "That's for Hobbes!" Calvin snarled. He then dealt Gregory a swift kick to the privates. "That's for my friends!" He lifted his left foot with his toes facing downward, and then slammed his left foot, toes-first, on the exact joint where Gregory's right foot met with his leg.

Gregory _howled_ in agony at the devastating injury.

"AND THAT'S," Calvin roared, "FOR CALLING ME A RETARD!"

He withdrew his foot from Gregory's newly inflicted injury and stormed back over to where Hobbes and his friends were positioned. Gregory instinctively curled up sufficiently enough to start instinctively massaging his injured foot. And judging from the pain he was now feeling, Gregory had a bad feeling that he wouldn't be surprised if at all if there turned out to be damage to the tendons. But then Gregory suddenly forgot all about that possibility and found his heart jumping into his throat when he heard Calvin's voice say, "Hobbes; break his other ankle."

Gregory had just enough time to snap his head in Calvin's direction and gape in horror in time to see a now snarling and barking Hobbes charge towards him before the dog then knocked him over, sunk his teeth into Gregory's left ankle, and then rapidly jerked his head upwards in a diagonal slant, snapping the ankle out of place with a sickening crack. Gregory _howled_ once more at the pain of his newly broken left ankle, and Hobbes unleashed an angry noise that sounded like a mixture between a bark and a roar straight in the rugby captain's face.

As Calvin grinned smugly at the scene, Zach remained lying on the floor in too much pain to visibly react, and everyone else in the hallway gaping in shock, Hobbes turned his head away from Gregory and towards the nearby lockers to his right in time to bark four times. The dog turned his head to face the lockers on the opposite side of the hallway and let loose another four barks. Hobbes turned his head to look behind him and barked yet another four times. Then Hobbes looked straight ahead towards the audience still gathered behind Zach and barked another four times. Then Hobbes snarled, reared his head up to face the ceiling, and unleashed a chillingly triumphant sounding wolf-like howl. Once Hobbes was finished with his howl, he snapped his head back down to its standard position, snarled one last time, and then turned away and loped right back to his master's side.

As the audience gathered behind Zach gaped in shock at the screaming and pained Gregory and the shocking act of cruelty responsible, Calvin snarled pointed his finger at them, and yelled, "Hey you!" The audience members directed their attention to him. "That's right! I'm talking to you!"

The autistic snarled again, and clenched his fists. "Let this be a lesson to the whole lot of you!" He pointed at Zach. "See what happened to this sleazy douche?! Well guess what you fat load of shits; this is what you can expect to happen to _you_ without fail if you treat me, Susan, Hobbes, or anyone else in the glee club with any level of disrespect! Especially the level he was treating Susan with!" He leaned forward, black eyes still blazing angrily, and the audience cringing at the sight of his nightmarishly scary angry face. "Treat us with respect!" Calvin roared. "And be nice to us!" He leaned his head forward even further, his eyes narrowing ominously. "Or die!"

He pointed at Zach. "And for that matter, don't even think about trying to form some screwed up cult to worship me like some false God or clamor for me to bestow my pelvic blessing or whatnot upon you turds! This sleaze here? You can keep him! I don't give a damn about how my defeating him grants me the rights to his fucked-up title or not! I've got more important things to do that are a trillion-billion-million times more important than having to associate in even the slightest way with a bunch of negative IQ level airheads who don't have the intelligence needed to breath without the nanotech life support they obviously have in their lungs keeping them alive! Just leave me, Susan, Hobbes, and all my other friends alone, and we'll be sweet! Got that!? Good! Now fuck off!" The audience continued to gape in shock and fear at Calvin upon hearing him say these words, and the autistic snorted, rolled his eyes dismissively at them, and turned around to walk away.

But then Susan walked forward, now looking plenty angry herself. Calvin and the other gleeks were briefly confused at this, and they all looked in her direction. Then she came to a stop right where Calvin had been standing, still looking noticeably pissed off, and pointed her finger at the audience before yelling, "You hear what my friend said?! Good! You deserve it!"

The audience gaped at Susan in shock. Daniel, Diana, and the 7 gleeks who hadn't initially been present in the hallway also looked stunned. Even Calvin and Hobbes looked noticeably surprised at Susan's current behavior.

Susan snarled, narrowed her now icy blue eyes at the audience gathered behind Zach and in front of her and her friends, and jabbed her still pointing finger in their direction before shouting, "What the Hell people!? Seriously, what the Hell is wrong with you!?"

The audience members winced. At that point, Jeremy Ben-Israel, who was, of course, amongst them, nervously stated, "What do you mean?"

Susan gaped incredulously at the gathered crowd. "What do I mean?" she hissed in disbelief. "What do I mean?!" She pointed her finger at Zach. "Isn't it obvious?! Well for one thing, how about the fact that you were all _cheering_ for this monster!? _Cheering_! And while he was trying to flipping _murder_ my best friend no less!? Not to mention the fact that he was planning to _rape_ me afterwards if he'd been successful!" She then pointed her finger accusingly at the Chinese American ring leader of Zach's fan girls. "And let's not forget how you and your gang of whores were more than willing to help him do exactly that yesterday!"

The Chinese American, to her credit, noticeably winced upon hearing these words, now clearly regretting the actions in question, plus her questionably supportive behavior towards Zach not too long ago. "Ms. Caraway," she stated, clearly trying her best to placate Susan and calm her down. "Please, I didn't mean . . . none of us intended. . ."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Susan howled. "I don't want to hear another word or pathetic excuse out of you lot! And I don't care how mean I'm gonna sound right now! I am too angry right now at how low you all stooped to fucking _cheer_ that monster you've been worshipping even while he was both planning to rape me and attempting to fucking _kill_ someone! And my own best friend no less! I couldn't be more disgusted with you all! And especially towards those of you who aren't jocks that Calvin never once actively associated with before and had never done _anything_ wrong towards whatsoever to deserve being fucking murdered where he stood in this damn school!"

At the sound of this last sentence, all the students amongst the crowd who weren't jocks or cheerleaders noticeably winced, some of them even on the verge of tears as they clearly realized the full extent of what they were supporting Zach's efforts at and felt ashamed. Even the other gleeks couldn't help but cringe at how brutally Susan was laying into the audience. At least, that is, except for Calvin and Hobbes, who were simply smirking and grinning at Susan in pride and relief at how she was standing up for them.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!" Susan snapped. "Hell! You ought to be disgusted with yourselves you fucked up brainless _creatures_!" She raised her finger as if to emphasize her point. "Yeah that's right! You heard me! _Creatures_! I said it! And I fucking _mean_ it!" She pointed her finger back at the crowd. "You all lost the right to be referred to as human beings after how willing you proved yourselves to support your precious false God in his heinous crimes! Heck, forget losing the rights to be referred to as human beings! You're lower than animals! Lower than _germs_! Lower than _garbage_! Lower than flipping _DUNG_!" She stomped her foot, clenched her fists, and then shrilly roared, "Go ahead and fuck yourselves! Heck, go ahead and fucking _kill_ yourselves! See what I fucking care!"

At the sound of all this, literally every single one of the more ashamed and faint hearted members of the crowd were in tears. Susan noticed this, and then shouted, "Is that crying I see?! Good! Go ahead! At least now you're admitting to yourselves how worthless it is for you to even be alive! Let alone how worthless you are as human beings!"

"You tell them Susan!" Calvin yelled, clearly being carried away in the moment as well as still proud for Susan's standing up for him. Hobbes snarled, and then barked thrice in apparent agreement.

Susan snarled, still facing the students, though secretly also pleased that Calvin was supporting her support for him. She turned her head to her right, eyes narrowing further upon sight of Zach's backpack, and then snatched it up. In a flash she dumped out all the contents within, grabbed two large basketballs from a nearby open locker, and stuffed them into the bag. She zipped the bag fully shut, lifted it in the air and swung it around a few times. Then, much to the shock of everyone and the horror of the gathered crowd of students, she suddenly yelled, "In fact, take _this_ you sorry little shits!" before then sending the basketball filled backpack flying right at them. The crowd hurriedly stepped back in time to avoid getting effectively t-boned with the weaponized backpack, which crash landed on the floor between them and the still downed Zach.

Meanwhile, at the exact same moment that this happened, Dunlap and Darren noticed a pair of items amongst the dumped out former contents of the backpack, and their red and yellow eyes narrowed in rage. They rushed over to the contents in question, Naomi and Amber following close behind. Dunlap and Darren picked up the items that had caught their attention; a familiar looking oil can and a bottle of lemon juice, respectively. Dunlap narrowed his eyes, drew out the identical looking oil can that was filled with super glue, and proceeded to open and look into both of them. He snarled upon seeing the different contents of the oil cans, now clearly putting two and two together and receiving undeniable confirmation as to how his legs had ended up getting superglued in the joints instead of oiled. Darren, meanwhile, needed only to see the bottle of lemon juice to know who'd been responsible for the painful prank against him and his eyes.

The albino boy and his yellow contact lens wearing friend snapped their heads towards the still downed Zach, a murderous look in their nightmarishly colored eyes. Naomi and Amber also noticeably looked pissed.

"YOU BASTARD!" they all yelled in unison before they all rushed over to Zach. The black boy had only enough time for his eyes to widen in horror at the sight of the four sophomores rushing him before they then all started to brutally beat on him. Dunlap kicked him again and again with his metallic prosthetic feet, Naomi banged him on the head and side with her cane, Darren pounded him on the same areas as Naomi with his guitar, and Amber whammed him in the groin and ribs with the same steel baseball bat that Calvin had used in the earlier confrontation. The crowd gathered behind Zach winced and gaped at the scene, but were too shocked, fearful, and ashamed from their earlier blind support of Zach during his more despicable behaviors from the fight to do anything to stop the four sophomores wailing on him.

When the four sophomore gleeks had finally deemed themselves to have done enough, they hissed at the groaning and agonized Zach, eyes narrowed, and Darren even going so far as to spit in his face spitefully, and then turned away and stormed off back to rejoin their 7 comrades. Once the 11 gleeks had effectively become united in position once more, Daniel and Diana looked at each other, and then directed cold glares towards the crowd still gathered behind Zach.

Daniel snarled silently, curling up his lip in clear disgust. Diana merely maintained a venomous glare in her green eyes. They both pointed at Susan. "What she said," they said in unison. Then they turned their heads to look behind them at their 9 now truly and officially fire forged new friends amongst their fellow glee club members. "Let's go," said Daniel.

The other gleeks all nodded and mumbled in agreement. Calvin snarled, reared his head upwards and proceeded to let out a series of Jurassic Park style velociraptor-like coughing barks. Hobbes snarled in assent immediately after his master had finished. And as one, the 11 gleeks and the dog turned around and stormed away together down the hall and as far away from Zach and the still speechless and ashamed crowd of students behind them all.

Minutes later, long after the 11 gleeks had departed, Miles whistled. "Well," he said. "I daresay I'm quite glad someone finally put that overrated blowhard in his place." He chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "Calvin and I may be rivals; but I sure as Hell am _glad_ that he won _this_ fight."

Upon hearing all this, just about every single one of the other students in the hallway found themselves nodding their heads silently in agreement with Miles, still feeling too ashamed themselves to have either openly supported Zach's efforts or just stood by and done nothing out of fear to disagree.

"What the Devil?"

As one, all the students amongst the crowd turned their heads to look behind them. Zach and Gregory, as much as they were still in a very real state of horrible pain and agony, managed to get into a good enough position to look up and in the direction of the voice that had just been heard.

Standing directly behind all the students amongst the crowd were a very stunned looking Charlotte, Becket, Silena, Donovan, and Ashley. Then Charlotte noticed Zach and the state he appeared to be in, and her already shocked eyes widened even further. She looked over at the nearest fellow cheerleader present she could find, shocked and confused look still on her face. "What the Hell did I miss here?"

 **Oh you missed it by THAT much Charlotte. That being said, I VERY MUCH hope you all read and enjoyed this new chapter! Not to mention that it's more than worth the wait I put you all through. I also hope very much that the next chapter won't take so long to write (but let's not hold our breath on that, just to be safe). That being said, again, hope you enjoyed and that you leave plenty of feedback. Remember, I require a minimum of** ** _two_** **reviews for this new chapter in order to allow myself to post the next one to come. Once again, hope you all enjoyed! ^_^**

 **Coming up Next: News about Zach and Calvin's climactic battle, and Zach's resulting epic defeat, spreads through amongst the McKinley High student body like wildfire. Unfortunately for Zach, however, the news also spreads to the ears of more than a few individuals who are far** ** _less_** **than excited to hear about it. Sound exciting? I certainly hope so! ^_^**


	12. Hell is Here

**Hey guys! Sorry I've again taken so long, let's just say that, I've decided to go a little easy on you all and reduce my review limit to a minimum of ONE per new chapter in order to be granted the rights to the next completed chapter to follow. That being said, I especially hope you enjoy this new chapter I have to offer! In this new chapter, news of Calvin and Zach's epic battle from the previous day, and Zach's subsequent epic defeat at Calvin's hands, spreads like wildfire; all the way to the ears of some people who are VERY MUCH less then pleased to hear about it. And before long, this matter not only leads to Zach being in serious hot water, but could also very likely put Mr. Schuester's job and his credibility as a teacher and safe person to be trusted around the members of his glee club at risk. Sound worth reading? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: Now first, just to remind you all, I do not own Glee. All I own are my OCs. Right then, onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 12:**

 **Hell is Here**

The very next day, Raj still could barely believe what had happened the previous day as he walked silently through the McKinley High hallways alone to make his way to his first class of the day. And for good reason. After all, considering the fact that Zach had spent the past two years shaping up to be a complete and utter badass with an untainted record of always winning in his fights with all the other boys he'd fought amongst the student body, the fact that he'd actually lost a fight for the first, and so far only, time in his life at McKinley High to another boy who'd likewise proven himself a badass over the past two years was understandably shocking to quite a large number of the McKinley High students. "I'm actually feeling kind of sad that I wasn't able to be present to watch the whole experience from the beginning," he thought to himself.

At the same time though, as unbelievable as the news was, Raj was also quite glad that Calvin had managed to defeat Zach in their fight. He let a small smirk come on his mouth as he thought darkly about how the basketball captain had effectively been punished a thousand times over for just about all of his jerkish actions committed against the majority of the glee club members by one man in the space of about half an hour or so. "Perhaps maybe now that he's gotten his hand handed to him so thoroughly for once, maybe he'll be humbled enough to get off his jerkass high horse and show us all some proper respect," the Indian American thought to themselves. He also couldn't help but smile as he thought about one of the especially honorable reasons behind Calvin's doing battle with Zach. "I can definitely say that I agree with his reasons there," he thought to himself. "After all, if someone were to threaten Bailey or Kim the way that asshole-nova was threatening Susan, I'd have demolished the shit out of the bastard responsible to."

Immediately after thinking about this, Raj stopped walking and mentally face palmed. "I've really got to stop constantly viewing both Bailey and Kimberly as being of equal level in my heart and get this drama over with already," he thought to himself. Then he sighed and hung his head. "Yeah right," his voiceover continued. "Easier said than done with the current circumstances." He shook his head, sighing yet again. "God, why must my senior year be so difficult and dramatic?"

"Hey man! How's everything going?"

Raj perked up upon hearing this voice behind him. He recognized that voice quite well. He turned his head, a small smile on his face. "Hey there Sid."

Sid Webber chuckled, his brown eyes agleam. He shook his head side to side, and then placed his hands on his hips. "Good to see you buddy," said the young sophomore. "Man, it feels so long since we last talked; and the last time you and I hung out was just this past weekend."

Raj chuckled, half out of genuine mirth and half out of guilt. "I get the feeling dude." He stretched his arms upwards, yawned from exertion, and then said, "And to answer your earlier question, I daresay I'm going good." He lowered his arms and looked back at Sid. "You?"

Sid thought to himself, seemingly hesitating. "Well," he said. Then he shrugged. "Could be worse." Sid mentally cringed; after all, from a certain point of view, he was telling the truth.

Raj, seemingly not noticing Sid's pause or the way his face seemed to slightly cringe, only smiled happily. "Well that's good to know." He then looked around, now seemingly curious. "For that matter," he said. "How's Kimberly?"

Sid shrugged. "She's doing ok enough I suppose." Much like his comment about how his own life was going at McKinley High so far, what he was now saying about Kimberly's current situation at McKinley High was also technically true from the right point of view.

Raj once again failed to notice the subtle details in Sid's double meaning laced comment. "Well tell her I said hi next time you see her." He smiled. "At least, of course, assuming I don't see her first." He then started to turn around as if about to walk away; but then he paused, and turned back to face Sid once more. "I almost forgot, how's Cameron?"

This time, Sid's comment came without pause, or a shrug, and had no double meaning to hint at any potential negativity. "Oh, he's doing great!" Sid chuckled, and rubbed his hand through his dark hair. "I daresay he's been doing pretty good. He's sure as Hell been taking to symphonic band this year like a champ. And don't even get me started on how excitable he's been ever since what happened yesterday between the resident playboy and the autistic whose best friend he was trying to have forcibly deflowered." He shook his head rigorously side to side, suddenly snarling with narrowed eyes and a glare. "Honestly Raj, demeaning stuff like _that_? That makes me _glad_ I don't swing that way."

Raj chuckled, his own dark eyes still agleam. It was a well-known fact amongst those at McKinley High that Sid was an out and proud gay. "I see you've heard about yesterday's battle."

"You betcha," said Sid. He lifted his finger as if to prove a point. "I may not have been there to watch it the way a respectable number of other students around here apparently were able to, but with how fast word always seems to travel in this school, it was only a matter of time that the news reached my ears; not to mention Cameron's." He chuckled. "I still remember how excited he was to tell me about that fight yesterday. He even went so far as to describe it as, and I quote, 'the most kickass cockfight in the history of mankind ever to occur between two teenage human males'."

Raj couldn't help but chuckle, and shake his head side to side. "That certainly sounds like something he'd say." He looked back at Sid, smile still on his face. "Well nonetheless, glad that you, Kim, and Cam are doing ok."

Sid chuckled nervously. "Yeah, you to."

Raj chuckled back, still happily smiling. "Well, I'd best be off to class." He turned around and resumed his walking down the direction he'd been taking to reach his first class for the day, but not without turning his head to briefly look behind him once more and say, "Enjoy the rest of your day Sid!"

"Will do," Sid replied. Once Raj was well out of sight and hearing range, however, Sid sighed. "Or at least I'll try to anyway." He checked his watch, and then started looking around. "Where do I go now? Where do I go now?"

"Hey you!"

Sid winced at the sound of this voice behind him. He recognized this voice all too well. And out of all the girls amongst the current student body of McKinley High, this particular one was one of the last ones he wanted to be encountering period; let alone this early in the day.

"Hello!" shouted a second girl's voice from behind him. "We're talking to you!"

Sid sighed, and turned around to face the area behind him. Sure enough, standing not too far behind him with hands on their hips and clearly annoyed looks on their faces was a pair of cheerios, one of them a blonde and the other a Chinese American, that he most certainly was not pleased to see.

The two cheerios hissed, narrowing their eyes and glaring at the boy before them. "I do believe you were supposed to meet up with us a good 10 minutes ago, am I right?

Upon hearing this question from the blonde, Sid groaned, rolled his eyes, and muttered under his breath, "Good morning to you to slut."

The blonde leaned forward, now clenching her fist to make herself look even more threatening. And considering the fact that she wore her hair in a bun instead of in the usual high pony tail that was commonly sported amongst many of the other cheerios, that was saying something. "What was that water boy?"

Sid gulped, and hurriedly extended his hands forward to attempt to placate the now angry cheerleader. "Nothing," he shouted. "I was just agreeing with you!" He panted a few times. "And for that matter, sorry I'm late."

"Damn right you're sorry," said the Chinese American, who was wearing a distinctive pair of crescent moon shaped earrings. She shook her head side to side, rolling her eyes and practically spitting to the side in disgust. "Because you've got work to do; and right now, since you're already late as it is, Abby and I are most definitely not in the mood for any funny business right now. You got that?"

Sid gulped, and nodded his head up and down hurriedly. "Yes ma'am."

In that instant, Sid found himself very much wishing that Raj hadn't already left the area, or that at least Kimberly could have been around to at least allow for the possibility of his two borderline assailants being somewhat more lenient in their treatment of him. Heck, at this point, he'd have been more than happy for the now undeniable top warrior of McKinley High, Calvin Martenson himself, to be around to help him. "Oh well," he thought to himself, not daring to say his current mental words out loud in front of the two cheerios. "Here comes another day in Hell as the McKinley High cheerios water boy."

. . . . .

Zach Skinner was not in the best of moods that morning as he sat quietly at his desk in Mr. Schuester's American History classroom. Granted, he wasn't angry. He was, however, feeling ashamed, guilty, and humiliated from the events of the previous day, not to mention how he'd now effectively lost his badassery record thanks to how he'd gotten very thoroughly ass whooped for the very first time the previous day instead of doing the ass whooping himself. He was also, of course, feeling guilty about his actions that had brought about the ass whooping, his reasons behind the actions in question, and what he'd had to do and say to Daniel and Diana in order to properly cultivate the image he was trying to build for Charlotte; an image that he was now having slightly stronger doubts about.

For the most part, however, he was also feeling very nervous. He remembered very well how big of a crowd there'd been in the hallway watching the fight the previous day. Granted, the crowd in question had luckily enough consisted entirely of students without any faculty immediately present to watch firsthand. However, the overall size of the crowd that had been present more than nullified the small mercy of no faculty having been immediately present. After all, with how many students had been present, combined with the fact that the incident had been witnessed by and even provided perfect photographic evidence for the students who worked with the Muckraker, it would not be long at all before _someone_ amongst the faculty decided to have a few words or so with him about the incident. And for that matter, he also couldn't help but worry about the possibility of the news spreading from the students to their parents, potentially even somehow to the ears of his _own_ parents. He mentally shuddered at the thought. "Man," he thought to himself. "It's only the middle of the week, and here I am at the point of having very nearly violated my own moral code and effectively proven my dad's worries from Monday right." He winced. "Dad's so gonna kill me if he finds out about this."

At that point, desperate to distract himself and get his mind off the unpleasant possibilities he'd now managed to think about, Zach looked around the classroom, casually observing all the other students present, only for his heart to sink at the sight of Daniel and Diana very pointedly looking towards the front of the classroom without even so much as even trying to direct even the tiniest glance his way; not to mention at the sight of Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes also being present in the classroom. In fact, considering how, unlike Diana and Daniel, the autistic, his neurotypical best friend, and the dangerously intelligent and ferocious therapy dog seemed to be chuckling and directing cheeky and smug grins his way every now and then, Zach couldn't help but feel very worried that a very unfortunate fate was soon to befall him. And at that very moment, he had absolutely no idea how horribly right these fears would turn out to be.

At that moment, Zach managed to get his mind slightly off the subject of his current worries when he heard the door to the classroom open. He and the other students all turned their heads in time to see none other than Mr. Schuester himself come walking into the classroom with his usual happy smile. Clearly, he had not yet been informed of the drama that had occurred the previous day not too long after the end of the after-school glee club session.

"Good morning everyone," said the teacher.

"Good morning Mr. Schue," the students all replied in unison, some sounding more monotonous in their tone than others.

"That's what I like to hear," said the teacher, still smiling happily and blissfully unaware of the drama that had occurred the previous day, let alone the drama that would yet come upon him this very day. He walked up to his place at the front of the classroom, prepared his materials for the day's lesson, and got himself in position to face the students and begin the lesson.

At exactly that moment, the bell rang. Zach silently let out a sigh of relief, slightly lowering his guard and relaxing his tense body. "Well," he thought to himself, "at least class has started without any drama." Then his eyes narrowed, and he stared in befuddlement at himself as if thinking about all the damage he'd gotten in the previous day's battle combined with the bruises and pain that still remained. "You know," he thought to himself. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised I'm not in the hospital right now after the beating I got yesterday."

"Well that's the bell everyone," said Mr. Schuester. "At this time, I'd like you all to open your books to page. . ."

A beep from the intercom for the school broadcast system interrupted the teacher and forced him to halt his words. The morning announcement was about to be made. "Good morning everyone," said the familiar voice of the long-suffering McKinley High Principal Figgins. "I hope you are all having a good morning today. I especially hope this to be the case for the janitor today due to how he ended up having to stay at work longer yesterday than usual due to an unexpected urgent need to both undo a super glue based vandalism and thoroughly clean up two entire hallways, one of which inexplicably had its entire floor slathered in oil and the other of which had a great deal of blood, plus a similarly respectable amount of hot sauce, scattered across the floor, walls, and lockers; as well as dispose of a stick that ended up somehow ending up inside the school, and in an empty classroom no less, for no apparent reason."

At the sound of this, all the other students in the room directed an overly meaningful look in unison at Zach, who could only cringe and wince, clearly knowing full well that he had been quite responsible for the janitor's extra work that the principal had now brought up. Mr. Schuester, on the other hand, simply stared in slight confusion at both the sight of how his students were currently behaving combined with befuddlement over what he'd heard the principal say.

"That being said, I congratulate us all for making it to the middle of the first full week of school for the year. Hopefully, we shall all enjoy what's left of this week."

Zach gulped, and nodded his head up and down. "Yes," he thought to himself. "Hopefully we shall."

"And finally, before we begin classes today, I'm afraid I must ask for Zachary Skinner to come to my office."

At the sound of this, all the other students in Mr. Schuester's class promptly directed meaningful looks at Zach, who winced and cringed once more. Mr. Schuester, meanwhile, was now clearly looking quite concerned and confused himself. "What's going on here?" he wondered.

"At this time," said Figgins, this time with a somewhat insistent tone to his voice. "I must ask for Zach Skinner to . . ."

At the sound of a sudden electronic shriek blaring out of the intercom as well as what sounded like some sort of struggle, everyone in the school promptly gaped at the nearest intercom with wide eyed shock. Zach, in particular, was especially bewildered. However, when the scuffle finally ended and an unexpected new voice started yelling into the intercom, it didn't take long at all for Zach to realize that he was very much screwed. But at the same time, not even Susan, Calvin, and Hobbes, as much as they were expecting for something unpleasant to potentially happen to Zach that day, could help but be stunned about what was now going on, particularly considering just who was now speaking into the intercom instead of Principal Figgins.

"THIS IS DOMINIC FUCKING CARAWAY!" roared the new voice on the intercom. "I AM IN A BAD FUCKING MOOD THIS MORNING! AND I HAVE SOME FUCKING WORDS TO SAY TO MR. ZACH FUCKING SKINNER GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"

All the students, Zach included, gaped at the intercom in stunned silence. Mr. Schuester also looked stunned and dumb founded. Even Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes were caught off guard by unexpectedly hearing the voice of Susan's own father erupting from the intercom.

Calvin silently whistled, and turned his head to face Susan. "I was _so_ not expecting your dad to come here himself to personally pick his bone with Zach."

Susan shook her head, closed her eyes, and silently winced. "Seriously dad?" she thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Dominic Caraway's voice continued to explode from the intercom. "ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME SKINNER?! ARE YOU!? YOU'D FUCKING BETTER! BECAUSE IF YOU REALLY THOUGHT YOU COULD ATTEMPT TO FUCKING RAPE MY DAUGHTER AND FUCKING GET AWAY WITH IT, THEN YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT AND HAVE A WHOLE 'NOTHER FUCKING THING COMING!"

Mr. Schuester's face couldn't have been more stunned looking upon learning about what Zach had attempted to do to Susan, and he gaped in the direction of the basketball captain, who could only wince and cringe with his eyes closed and teeth gritted once more.

"MY DAUGHTER AND HER FRIEND CALVIN MAY HAVE LET YOU OFF THE FUCKING HOOK THE FIRST TIME YOU TRIED TO PULL A FUCKING FAST ONE ON HER THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY, BUT AS OF FUCKING YESTERDAY, YOU'VE NOW GONE TOO FUCKING FAR! FAR ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY _ME_ GETTING FUCKING PERSONALLY INVOLVED TO FUCKING DISCOURAGE YOU! AND YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE HOW FUCKING PLEASED I AM TO GET INVOLVED FUCKING DIRECTLY FOR FUCKING ONCE! AND BELIEVE ME, I FUCKING _WILL_ PICK THAT FUCKING BONE I HAVE TO PICK WITH YOU TODAY! EVEN IF IT MEANS I HAVE TO FUCKING DRAG YOU TO THIS FUCKING OFFICE FUCKING KICKING AND FUCKING SCREAMING; YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?!"

Susan sighed, and shook her head side to side in slight embarrassment. Calvin, on the other hand, clearly looked as if he were both stunned and fighting not too laugh.

"IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S FUCKING GOOD FOR YOU," Mr. Caraway roared. "YOU'D BETTER GET YOUR FUCKING ASS RIGHT FUCKING HERE RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"

The sound of a mixture between a slam and a blaringly loud 'ding!' emphatically signified the end of Dominic Caraway's half hilarious and half nightmare inducing rant. For what seemed like an eternity afterwards, everyone in Mr. Schuester's classroom, and in fact everyone in the entire school, could only continue gaping at the intercom speaker.

Then the apparent eternity of silence following Dominic Caraway's rant was finally broken by the intercom coming back on and Principal Figgins resuming his announcements. "Good morning again," said the principal. "Please forgive my guest for all that. He's not in the best of moods right now."

"You think?!" Susan grumbled under her breath.

"But as I was saying," the principal continued. "And as my especially angry guest has made extra brutally clear, Zach Skinner's presence will be required in my office this morning."

All the other students in Mr. Schuester's classroom, Zach's fellow four gleeks included, all stared meaningfully at Zach. Mr. Schuester also directed his gaze at Zach, his facial expression indicating a mixture between confusion, suspicion, and anger. Zach winced, seemed to mentally fight himself for a moment, and then he sighed. He stood up, took a deep breath, exhaled, and started walking towards the door to the classroom.

"For that matter," the principal's voice suddenly spoke from the intercom. The listeners all directed their attention back to the intercom. "The presence of William Schuester will also be required in my office for this morning. For as my guests have made quite clear, as Zach's teacher and instructor in the New Directions, this matter is of equally high concern to him as it is for my guests who have brought this matter to my own attention."

The eyes of the students' all widened upon learning that Susan's father was apparently not the only 'guest' in Mr. Schuester's office this morning. "Oh God," Susan thought to herself. "My mom's here to."

Mr. Schuester, meanwhile, sighed resignedly, and moved away from his position where he'd been ready to start the morning's lecture. "As of now," he began, I'd like you all to spend the time I'm gone both rereading last night's assigned pages and the newly assigned reading written on the board. If I'm not back by the time 1st period ends, your next homework assignment can be found in the yellow basket near the door in between the green and red baskets."

Having said all this and made sure that the class could still effectively function and work out without him being present, Mr. Schuester made his way out of the classroom to go to Principal Figgins's office, Zach, with clear reluctance and nervousness, slowly following along behind him. "I'm doomed," Zach thought to himself. He sighed, and hung his head as he continued to walk behind Mr. Schuester and make his way to the principal's office. "Oh well," he thought to himself. "Might as well get the whole unpleasant business over with. I mean hey, this couldn't possibly get any worse then it's already looking, right?"

. . . . .

As it turned out, the situation indeed _did_ get even worse than it had already looked. For not too long after Zach followed Mr. Schuester into the principal's office and made his way halfway through the anteroom to Figgins' office proper, the black boy was able to get a good look through one of the huge interior windows to the office; and his eyes promptly widened in horror as he noticed that there were not two, but _four_ , other adults present in the room alongside Figgins.

And worse still, Zach could already tell immediately who the four guests were. The visibly pissed off looking dark haired man and equally pissed off dark haired and fair skinned woman sitting next to him Zach could easily guess were Susan's parents. However, the other couple that was present as guests for the principal, as well as the only blonde in the room, were the ones that now had Zach feeling even more worried than before. His suspicions were only further proven correct when the couple in question, a fair skinned man with blonde hair and a dark-haired woman with tanned skin, turned their heads and incidentally managed to look Zach in the face. At the sight of their faces, combined with the man's fair skin and blonde hair he'd already managed to see, Zach took mere seconds to envision the man as a teenager his age with his natural blue eyes replaced with the woman's ominous dark black eyes and realize that Calvin's parents had clearly gotten involved as well. And clearly, judging by the hollow and cold look in the woman's eyes and the silent gritted toothed snarl on the man's face, they were just as pissed, if not more so, as Susan's parents were about the whole mess.

"Ahem."

Zach jolted out of his thoughts and looked in the direction he'd heard the cough in time to see what looked like an annoyed Mr. Schuester standing right at the door leading directly into Figgins' office proper. Mentally cursing and chiding himself for both acting cowardly and making himself look like a fool in front of his teacher and the four pissed off parents who'd come to air their grievances against him, Zach took a deep breath, exhaled, and then resolutely marched over to walk into the office without leaving any chance for him to lose his nerve and bolt out of the area screaming his head off. Mr. Schuester slipped into the office right behind Zach immediately after the boy entered, closing the door behind him.

After another moment of tense silence, the teacher and student were able to find seats and sit down. Several seconds passed in what seemed to be an uncomfortably long period of time before Zach finally decided to just end the awkwardness and start speaking himself. "Good morning," he said calmly and frankly.

The dark-haired man amongst the guests narrowed his eyes, clearly not amused. "Are you Zach Skinner?" he asked.

Zach nodded his head, seeing no reason to deny his own name. "I am," he confirmed. "You?" He asked this strictly for the sake of formality and politeness. After all, he already had a perfectly good feeling who this man, the blonde man, and the two brunette women with them were.

The dark-haired man snarled. "Well as you probably heard me say on the intercom, I'm Dominic Caraway." He pointed at the woman sitting next to him. "This is my wife Samantha." He pointed at Zach. "And we're the parents of the girl you were willing to try to rape yesterday."

Mr. Schuester directed his gaze at Zach, his facial expression silently asking if this accusation was true. Zach indicated for his teacher to wait, and nodded his head at the two Caraway adults. "Noted," he said. He then looked over at the other couple present in the room. "And who, may I ask, are you?"

The blonde man snarled, but this time in an explicitly loud way rather than a silent way. "Gerald Martenson," he hissed. He pointed at his companion. "This is my wife Mallory." He then stood up, stormed over to Zach, and leaned over and grabbed Zach by the shoulders before thrusting his head towards the surprised boy's face and snarling, "And we're the parents of the boy you tried to _strangle_ to death yesterday!"

"Mr. Martenson," Principal Figgins yelled. "Calm down!"

"Calm down?!" Gerald Martenson howled. "Calm down!? Don't you flipping _dare_ tell me to calm down right now!"

"Mr. Martenson," Mr. Schuester began, clearly nervous, despite still not knowing the full details of what was going on.

"Shut up!" yelled Gerald, now glaring at Mr. Schuester. He pointed at the teacher, and then at the principal. "Both of you shut up! And for that matter, why don't you both go ahead and have a son of your own that almost gets murdered in cold blood by some lowlife bastard! _Then_ you can tell me and my wife to calm down!"

"Forget that!" yelled Dominic. He stood up from his own seat and pulled off the same pointing routine that Gerald had just pulled. "Why don't you both have a _daughter_ of your own that some lifeless asshole tries to flipping _rape_ for the fun of it! _Then_ tell me and my wife to calm down!" His eyes narrowed. "And for that matter," he snarled, "with all his current actions in mind." He pointed at Zach. "Why isn't this criminal already in jail!?"

"A very good question," Samantha Caraway agreed.

"You can say that again," Mallory Martenson agreed.

As one, the two women looked over at Mr. Schuester, their eyes narrowing at the sight of the still somewhat surprised and confused look on his face.

"For that matter," said Mrs. Martenson as she then pointed at the teacher. "Why is it that _you_ of all people are so surprised to be hearing about all this?"

Mr. Schuester looked at Mrs. Martenson, clearly caught off guard. "I . . . I don't know what you're talking about. . ."

"That's the point!" Mr. Martenson shouted, clearly catching on to what his wife was saying. He turned around and pointed his finger accusingly at Mr. Schuester. "You don't know what's going on! You never know what's going on! You're so worried about making sure that your precious glee club is capable of winning championships and fulfilling assignments that you don't even bother to _care_ to notice the bits and pieces of drama going on amongst them even when they're happening right under your own nose!" He pointed at Zach. "And as a direct result of all that, this ungodly savage very nearly got away with murdering my son!"

"Yeah," said Mr. Caraway in agreement. He pointed at Zach. "And not only that, but this thug over here also spent the last two days harassing my daughter, not to mention was more than willing to try to fucking _rape_ her, and you did nothing!"

Mr. Schuester mentally winced, and briefly found himself lost for words. "I . . ." he began shakily. "I didn't . . . mean to, I . . . I had no idea any of this was happening. . ."

"That's the point," Mrs. Caraway hissed, standing up from her own seat and pointing her own finger at the teacher. "You never have any idea of what the students in your club are up to! Never! Not until it's either too late, or pretty damned close!"

Mr. Schuester winced, now feeling even guiltier. "Mrs. Caraway," he began. "Mrs. Martenson, I know this looks bad. . ."

"I hate to agree with them William," said Figgins. "But my guests do have a point."

Mr. Schuester reared his head back, rolling his eyes to Heaven. "For the love of God. . ."

"I'm serious William," Figgins continued. "This isn't the first time that you've managed to be so unsettlingly oblivious to your students' activities." He lifted his finger as if to emphasize his point. "The very first such incident happened 25 years ago, at the very beginning of the glee club's existence under the name, New Directions, when the club's very first members changed the song they'd be performing from _Le Freak_ to _Push It_ behind your back. You were completely unaware of any of this until the day of the assembly arrived and they performed the song they'd chosen to do instead of your choice."

Mr. Schuester mentally gulped, all thoughts of complaint or comeback gone from his mind. Now that Figgins had brought up that unpleasant detail, he could only remember it all too well. "That was only about my 2nd ever week or so as glee club director," he shakily tried to defend himself.

"A couple months or so later," the principal continued, clearly not about to stop just yet. "All your glee club students got high on vitamin D. And again, you were completely unaware of the matter until two of the students fessed up."

Mr. Schuester sighed. It seemed that he and the New Directions would never live that incident down. "That only happened once," said Mr. Schuester. "I swear, that kind of thing hasn't happened since."

"Months after that, a mere week away from your first Sectionals competition, the glee club got themselves involved in a Mattress Land advertisement, _and_ got paid in a free set of mattresses," Figgins continued. "And not only were you completely oblivious yet again to your students' activities during this incident, but you yourself very nearly put an end to its existence by _using_ one of the mattresses."

Mr. Schuester winced, clenching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth. Of all the appropriate incidents Figgins could have mentioned, this particular one was by far one of the worst in his opinion. "God, I wish I could just forget that time," the teacher thought to himself.

"And even without those three incidents to consider," said Figgins, "there is also the 2012 lip synching debacle, the 2016 champagne incident, the 2019 Vocal Adrenaline funding robbery, the 2021 family unfriendly literal flash mob, the 2027 Harley Davidson scandal, the 2029 Mexican fighting bull disaster, the 2034 Las Vegas glee club gambling debt crisis. . ." The principal shook his head, and then stared frankly at Mr. Schuester. "Need I go on?"

Mr. Schuester sighed, pinched his nose, and took a series of deep breaths to calm himself down. As this happened, Figgins stared patiently at the teacher, the four parents glared, and Zach hung his head in a mixture of shame, embarrassment, and fear. "Man," he thought to himself. "Did I really screw things up _this_ badly for Mr. Schue?"

Mr. Caraway eventually lost patience. "Give us one good reason why we should trust you with our kids."

At this, Mr. Schuester took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked at Figgins. "Look," he began, "I get it, all those past incidents, plus this current one, are things that I probably could have stopped from happening if I'd paid better attention. . ."

"Yeah, no shit," Mr. Martenson hissed.

"But let me ask you this Figgins," Mr. Schuester continued, seemingly ignoring Calvin's father. "Has there ever been a time in which an incident like this or something similar has occurred in which I haven't managed to make up for it or work things for the good in some way or other?"

The four parents looked over at the principal, who thought to himself, and then seemingly reluctantly shook his head side to side. "No," he admitted. "In the past, you've always managed to salvage some good or other out of a negative situation as far as I can remember."

"That's right," said Mr. Schuester. He pointed at Zach. "And Zach here, he's not the first problematic student I've had to work with in my club, right?"

Zach briefly made as if about to object to being called 'problematic', only to be silenced by a sidelong glare from Mr. Schuester.

"No, he is not," the principal admitted.

"And let me say this," Mr. Schuester stated. "All the way back in the 2009 fall semester, all the members I had were 100% brand new, just like my current roster. I got them to work out as a group and club together, didn't I?"

Not even the four parents present in the room with him could disagree with Mr. Schuester on _that_ one.

"It's still been lord knows how many years since you've had a roster that consists entirely of brand new members," said Figgins.

"I understand," said Mr. Schuester. "But that doesn't mean that I can't get things to work out with such a roster again after all this time." He lifted his finger as if to emphasize his point, a slightly more confident look on his face once more. "Give me the rest of this week at the very least, maybe even the rest of this month or even the full next month after this at the most. If I haven't worked things out between Zach and my other students and gotten things under control and in good shape by then, feel free to stay angry with me and doubt me. But before you do that, at least just let me _try_ to sort things out and get this mess cleaned up myself."

Figgins and the four parents thought to themselves, clearly considering Mr. Schuester's suggestion. Zach stared intently, though also rather nervously, as he waited for them to finally speak and make their decision. "Please don't make me go to jail, please don't make me go to jail, please don't make me go to jail," he thought to himself worriedly.

Eventually, Figgins sighed. "Fine," he said. "I'll give you this chance."

Zach smiled, and Mr. Schuester sighed in relief. "Thank you. . ."

"As long as my guests are ok with it as well."

Zach and Mr. Schuester's faces promptly fell, and they directed their attention towards the four parents within the room. Zach clearly looked terrified while Mr. Schuester had a slightly pleading look on his own face as he watched the four 'guests' think to themselves and mentally debate on whether or not to either agree with the suggested solution or to take matters into their own hands.

For what seemed like an eternity, the four parents continued thinking to themselves and trying to decide on whether to let Mr. Schuester have his requested chance at fixing the mess himself. Out of all four of them, thankfully, Mrs. Caraway seemed to make her final decision the fastest, as she was the first to nod her head in a way that indicated 'yes'. Her husband, plus Calvin's parents took noticeably longer to make their final decision. Mrs. Martenson seemed painfully clearly as if she wanted nothing more than to lay into Zach tooth and nail for what had happened to her son the previous day. But eventually, after clenching her fists, and taking five deep breaths and exhalations in a row, she finally seemed to calm down, and nodded her head in agreement with Mr. Schuester and Mrs. Caraway. Mr. Martenson seemed largely of the same opinion as his wife, but eventually came to an agreement himself upon seeing that his wife had chosen to allow Mr. Schuester his requested chance to fix things himself. Mr. Caraway, however, clearly was far from 100% willing to believe that Mr. Schuester could be trusted with his daughter's safety around Zach, and he seemed to spend what seemed like an hour clenching and unclenching his fists, inhaling and exhaling heavily, gritting his teeth, and keeping his eyes clenched shut the entire time as he heavily debated on whether to say yes or no to the teacher's request. At this point, Zach couldn't help but feel an uncomfortable sense of doom. "If he says no," he thought to himself. "I'm so dead."

Mr. Caraway opened his eyes, glared hatefully at Zach, and then turned his head towards Figgins. "Mr. Figgins," he said. "May I please go outside your office with my wife and companions for a moment?" He looked back at Zach. "Right now, we need to have a serious talk regarding this boy and what his teacher has just suggested for us to do."

Figgins indicated for his guests to go ahead and leave the room, and the four parents got up from their seats and exited the room, shutting the door behind them so they could have their talk with less chances of Zach or anyone else overhearing them.

For what seemed like an eternity afterward to Zach, the four parents whispered to each other in what looked like a huddle. And, much to his discomfort, judging by Mr. Caraway's behavior during this talk, he was clearly still quite in favor of taking the whole business strictly into his own hands rather than letting Mr. Schuester make any attempt at fixing things.

Mr. Schuester couldn't help but feel worried himself, yet at the same time sympathize with the four parents. "I can't entirely say I blame them, especially Mr. Caraway, for being reluctant to let me take a hand at fixing this mess." He nodded his head. "After all, I'd certainly feel the same way as them if one of my own children were almost murdered or raped." He then directed his gaze at the still quite worried Zach. Zach, thankfully enough, was looking straight at the four parents outside the office, and thus didn't see Mr. Schuester looking his way. "Jesus Zach," he thought to himself. "What am I going to do with you? It's only been two full days since you joined the glee club, and already you've caused more headaches and similar drama for me than your idol himself caused in his entire time as a student at this school." He shook his head side to side, sighing mentally. "By God, is it too much to ask to have just _one_ year of school in which I don't have drama involving the glee club popping up as early as the _first week_?"

Eventually, the four parents split up from their huddle and reentered Figgins' office. All four of them had facial expressions that clearly indicated varying degrees of annoyance and reluctant agreement. Zach tensed up, half in dread and half in anticipation for what the final verdict would be. Mr. Schuester also gazed intently at the four parents as he waited to hear their final decision, as did Figgins.

In unison, Mr. Martenson, his wife, and Mrs. Caraway looked at Mr. Caraway, who took a deep breath, clearly still not 100% in the best of moods. Eventually, the dark-haired man took an especially deep breath, exhaled particularly heavily, and directed his gaze towards Mr. Schuester, his face still noticeably tensed up and indicative of lingering anger. "I really don't want to say this," he began. He took another deep breath, and then exhaled, his teeth still gritted. "But it has been unanimously decided that we'll let you have your requested chance to fix up this mess yourself."

Zach mentally exhaled in relief, not daring to physical exhale for fear of yet incurring Mr. Caraway's wrath.

"Thank you," said Mr. Schuester.

"But for his sake and yours," Mr. Caraway continued, pointing at the teacher. "This had better work. Because I swear to God, if this fails, and _especially_ if another incident occurs and you turn out to have done nothing to stop it like you did this time, then it won't matter what you offer or how much you beg. We _will_ take this matter strictly into our own hands, _and_ get the police involved."

Zach gulped, and looked at Mr. Schuester, who only nodded. "I understand."

"Good."

Mr. Caraway nodded his head and looked back at Principal Figgins. "Our business is finished; for now."

The principal nodded, and patiently directed that it was ok for them to leave. Mr. Martenson was the first to depart. The others slowly followed along behind him.

However, the other 'guests' took their time. Mrs. Martenson came to a stop directly in front of Zach, leaned towards him, and practically shoved him up against the chair he was sitting in by his shoulders, glaring hatefully at him right in the face. "I'm gonna warn you right now monster," she snarled, teeth gritted and her dark eyes ominously darkened in a unnervingly familiar black hole-like intensity. "And I'm only going to say this once; but if you harm my son again," she leaned her face towards him even further, "mark my words; they'll never find your body."

In that instant, Zach gulped, unable to do anything else as he stared in Mrs. Martenson's furious glaring face. Incidentally, he couldn't help but note that, just as he'd concluded when he'd first seen her from outside the office, her eyes had _definitely_ been the biological inheritance she'd passed down to her son, Calvin. And _boy_ he was not enjoying getting treated to the exact same murderous look Calvin had given him the previous day all over again from the eyes of Calvin's own mother. Mrs. Martenson snarled once again, eyes now narrowed, and then she straightened up and walked off to join up with her husband.

The Caraways took a moment to stop by Zach as well. Mr. Caraway glared at Zach and pointed his finger accusingly at the boy. "The same thing applies to us punk," he growled. "You try to pull off another stunt on our daughter the way you've tried to do the last two days, and no one will find your body."

Zach narrowed his eyes, but also made a slight wolfish grin in an effort to try to make light out of the tense situation. "I'll have you know," he said half-jokingly and half snarkily, "that coming from me, your daughter would have considered rape to be one of the highest honors to ever be bestowed upon her."

Zach instantly regretted his horribly poor choice of words to use to treat as a joke when Mr. Caraway punched him in the face. Zach had plenty of time to gasp and groan in pain before he then turned his head in time to see Mr. Caraway starting to walk away from him towards the exit. "Dude! That was a joke!"

Mrs. Caraway promptly dealt him a thundering kick to the privates with her high heeled right foot. Zach jolted up, howled in agony, and then bent over with a cringing grimace on his face.

"I hope that hurt, you asshole," Mrs. Caraway said in farewell as she started to follow her husband and two compatriots out of the principal's office.

By the time Zach managed to finally get over his current pain and turn his head to look behind him, the four parents had already departed from the office entirely and were walking down the hall to exit the school. He then turned his head towards Mr. Schue, only to mentally gulp and outwardly widen his eyes at the rather unsettlingly disapproving look that was now on the teacher's face.

"Well," said the principal. "That went well; and in fact better than I feared."

Mr. Schuester and Zach directed their gazes at the principal, both of them now glaring as if to say, "Seriously? That's all you have to say?"

"Alright then," said Figgins. He clapped his hands together once. "I suppose that concludes our meeting this morning. You are both now free to return to your class."

"Thank you," Mr. Schuester said politely. He got up from his chair and made his way to exiting the office. "Come on Zach," he said. "Let's go."

Zach did not need to be told twice, and he rose from his seat and followed Mr. Schuester out of the principal's office and into the hall to return to the American History classroom. For what seemed like an eternity, the teacher and student walked quietly through the hallway in the direction opposite the one taken by the four angry parents. Eventually, the boy glanced over at the teacher, a small smile on his face. "Thank you," he said.

Mr. Schuester glared at Zach. "Don't thank me yet," he stated bluntly. He stopped walking, Zach instinctively doing the same. The teacher pointed his finger at Zach. "I may have gotten you out of going to juvie," he stated, "but this is far from over. I've still got plenty to say to you and the rest of my students in the glee club about this matter. And don't bother trying to stop me; I _will_ make sure your parents are aware of this just as much as your apparent victims' parents are. Got that?"

Zach briefly seemed as if about to protest, only to gulp and mentally dismiss his planned complaints as meaningless when he saw the teacher's narrow eyed scowling look of fury. He nodded his head. "Right," he said in a somewhat resigned tone of voice. "Understood."

"Good." Mr. Schuester turned around and resumed his walk. "Now let's get back to class."

 **And here you go! Another chapter! Here's me hoping you enjoyed this chapter. I certainly had fun writing it (although the waiting for the chance to actually post it sure as Hell could have been more so; oh well). I also hope in particular that you enjoyed Mr. Caraway's rant, the scenes in Figgins' office involving Calvin and Susan's parents, the various incidents (all of which, with the exception of the lip synching, mattress, vitamin D, and Assembly Incident #1, are 'noodle incidents' I made up myself), AND the scene at the chapter's beginning with Raj, Sid, and the two cheerios who are Sid's most dedicated bullies (seriously, you see them still bullying him all the way in chapter 50 of the main GWAF story in case any of you have forgotten). That being said, I once again hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty (emphasis on PLENTY) of reviews/feedback (I may have changed the minimum review quota to one, but I still strongly advise for everyone; and I mean EVERYONE; who reads this chapter, OR the ones before it, to leave reviews; pretty please?). Again, hope you all enjoyed, and look forward to your feedback ^_^.**

 **Coming up Next: It's recess session for today in the glee club, and Mr. Schuester is NOT happy. And before long, after both calling out Zach and becoming aware of literally EVERY detail about Zach's bullying and jerkassery towards so many of his fellow gleeks, Mr. Schuester decides its time to bring the hammer down . . . by forcing them all to take a break from fulfilling the weakly assignment as well as from taking part in any after school glee club session for the day in favor of them taking part in some (in his mind anyway) much needed socializing and bonding time. Sound worth reading? I certainly hope so! ^_^**


	13. Judge Schuester

**FINALLY! A NEW UPDATE! Good God, I wish I could be faster at this! Nevertheless, here's a new chapter for you all to enjoy! ^_^ In this new chapter, the recess session for glee club has come for the day, and Mr. Schuester is still NOT HAPPY AT ALL about the unpleasant news he's just now received about the previous day's unfortunate incidents involving Zach; not to mention about how his job security and the existence of the New Directions has now effectively been put into jeopardy as a result. And before long, after calling Zach out and being made aware of literally every single one of Zach's OTHER acts of bullying and jerkassery, he decides it's time to bring the hammer down . . . by forcing all the gleeks, Zach included, to take a break from the weekly assignment AND taking part in an official after-school session of glee club in exchange for taking part in some much needed (in his mind) bonding time. Sound worth reading after a long wait? I certainly hope so ya'll! Here's hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you all that I do NOT own Glee. Got that? Good. Onward with the fic everybody!**

 **Chapter 13:**

 **Judge Schuester**

"What were you thinking?!" Mr. Schuester yelled. "Honestly Zach, what the Hell were you thinking?!"

Zach winced, knowing full well that Mr. Schuester had every right to be angry at him right now, yet also feeling embarrassed at being called out by him with all the other glee club members, including Charlotte, in the room as well. "Mr. Schue," he began. "I can explain."

"I certainly hope so!" Mr. Schuester yelled. "Because you're gonna need a seriously good explanation to earn my trust back, let alone justify your actions or make them seem even remotely acceptable. After all, as of yesterday, you were apparently willing to try to rape one of my other students, _and_ attempted to murder another. Do you have any idea how serious a crime those actions are?"

"If he did," Calvin hissed coldly, his arms folded across his chest, "he wouldn't have tried them."

Zach turned his head to look at Calvin, eyes now narrowed into a glare. "Don't you start," he snarled.

"Start what?" Calvin growled, turning his own head to look at Zach. "You brought all this on yourself. I gave you a chance to back out; not to mention flat out told you to leave Susan out of your depravity immediately before then. It sure as Hell wasn't _my_ fault you chose to ignore it."

"Well if you hadn't acted like such a jerk towards me two days ago," Zach snarled, now clearly trying to do anything he could to avoid having to accept any blame in his anger, "then maybe I wouldn't have been so tempted!"

"Well maybe if _you_ ," Calvin hissed, "hadn't been making fishy eyes at Susan and acting all sleazy towards her in the first place, I wouldn't have _had_ to act like such a quote on quote 'jerk' to you in the first place!"

"Paranoid know-it-all!" Zach shouted.

"Cow humping transvestite!" Calvin shouted in response.

"Self-Righteous Nazi!"

"Idiot Amin!"

"Racist Bastard!"

"Brainless Misogynist!"

"Heartless Vulcan!"

"Fe-Fi-Fo-Fuck you!"

"ENOUGH!"

Zach, Calvin, and the other 11 gleeks, plus Hobbes, all turned their attention towards the still quite angry Mr. Schuester. The teacher groaned, pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed heavily. He shook his head and looked back at his students. "Look guys," he began. "I'm serious." He directed his focus almost entirely to Zach. "I mean really Zach; what the Hell?"

"Mr. Schue," Zach began. "Like I was saying, I've got a perfectly logical explanation. . ."

"I didn't ask for logical," said Mr. Schuester. "I asked for acceptable. There's a difference."

Zach sighed, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Look Mr. Schue, my recent actions? I know it all looks bad. . ."

"Yeah no shit," Dunlap hissed.

"Ain't that the truth?" Darren growled.

"Guys," said Mr. Schuester.

"Don't you start," said Darren. He pointed at Zach. "We all know he's a jerk and deserves what he's getting right now. Even you know that."

"That doesn't mean," Mr. Schuester began.

"And it's not like Calvin and Susan are the only ones with bones to pick with him right now," Dunlap snapped. He pointed his right finger at Charlotte and his left finger in the direction of Daniel and Diana. "Apart from our fearless leaders and Little Miss Hitler over there, he's gone out of his way to harass and bully every single one of us." He lifted his oil can into view. "See this? Yesterday, the asshole went so far as to switch it out with an identical copy filled with super glue, knowing full well that I would later use it and how the glue would affect my legs just so that I wouldn't be around to interfere with his plans involving Susan and Calvin yesterday."

"And Dunlap wasn't the only one that douche went so extreme lengths to get out of the way of his schemes yesterday," said Darren. He pointed at Zach. "The little trog went so far as to slather my back up pair of contacts in lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice! Fresh! And as a result of that," he pointed emphatically at his eyes "I almost got my eyes melted out yesterday! Melted out! You hear me?! Melted out! If it weren't for how fast Raj and Cody were for finding out what was going on and getting my eyes washed out in time, I'd be eyeless right now!"

Mr. Schuester was about to comment on Darren's admittedly rather overexaggerated claims when Naomi suddenly piped in with, "They're not the only ones he bullied yesterday." Mr. Schuester directed his attention at the blind girl, who directed her gaze towards him as best as she could. "That oil slathered hallway floor that the principal mentioned this morning?" She pointed at Zach, miraculously pointing her finger exactly in the right direction on only the first try. "His fault. And in a deliberate and mean spirited prank against me to."

"He bullied me to," said Amber. She folded her arms across her chest. "Yesterday morning, he followed me around the parking lot, got all up in my face, and acted all creepy and whatnot as if he were planning to try to assault me or whatever. And get this, when Darren intervened, he acted as if Darren and I were in the wrong and told us to grow a damn funny bone. Seriously! 'Grow a funny bone'! He was treating the fact that he was acting like he was about to try to rape me as a Goddamn joke! Honestly, how depraved is this guy!?"

"And don't get us started on what he pulled against us," Cody shouted. Mr. Schuester directed his attention to Cody, Bailey, and Raj, now far too interested and caught up in learning all the information he was now receiving to complain about any interruptions and how Zach was not getting the chance to try to explain himself, a task that Mr. Schuester now had a strong feeling would be very difficult, if not impossible in the current circumstances.

Cody pointed at Zach. "The day before yesterday, that little trog flushed my glasses down the toilet."

"He also filled up my shoes with soda while I was at gym class this Monday," said Raj. " _And_ , he applied a liberal coating of red, white, and blue paint to the desk chair I ended up sitting at during the class that immediately followed!"

"Not to mention," said Bailey, "he also kept harassing me over the phone yesterday afternoon and evening, plus three times yesterday morning." She folded her arms over her chest. "And yes, I know how tame that sounds compared to what that bastard tried to pull on Susan and Amber; but my point still stands that he harassed me!"

"They're telling the truth," said Daniel. He nodded his head, not at all noticing or caring that Zach was now gaping at him with a clear silent 'et tu Daniel?' look on his face. "He did all that, AND the stuff that happened yesterday that you've just been informed of."

Diana nodded her own head in agreement with Daniel. "Indeed true," she said.

At the sound of a deep inhalation, all thirteen of the glee club students turned their heads to face Mr. Schuester, who had just now closed his eyes and started taking a deep breath. After what felt like an eternity, particularly to Zach, the teacher exhaled, and then shook his head side to side. He opened his eyes. "And Zach shall face justice for all those other actions as well."

Zach's face fell upon hearing these words. Mr. Schuester, however, wasn't done yet. "But before that happens," said Mr. Schuester. He spread his hands out to his sides, a half perplexed and half annoyed look on his face. "Why is it that I had to wait till _now_ to find out about any of this?" He face-palmed, sighing heavily. "Honestly, harmless minor league pranks and good natured horsing around is one thing." He lowered his hand from his face. "But deliberate harassment?! Cruel and malicious pranks that run the risk of bodily harm or treat sensitive matters like jokes?! Flat out jail worthy crimes?!" He pointed his finger at his entire current generation of New Directioneers. "As a teacher, glee club instructor, and in fact as a man who makes his living working with kids, stuff like this is the kind of thing that I need; I repeat, _need_ ; to know!"

All the gleeks, to their credit, looked suitably chastened. Not even Zach or Charlotte were in the mood to try to take any smug satisfaction of any sort out of this current matter, for Zach knew that he was already in too much trouble for any such effort to be worthwhile, and Charlotte knew better than to take part in any actions that could potentially make Mr. Schuester angry. After all, as kind and gentle in nature as Mr. Schuester typically was, the times that he got truly angry and pissed were not moments to be taken lightly.

Dunlap gulped, and hung his head. "Well," the albino boy began. "First, to be fair, the super glue incident with my legs and Darren's lemon juice contacts incident happened a little while after yesterday's after school glee club session had ended and you'd already left to go home."

"He's right," said Cody. He lifted his finger as if to emphasize a point. "Same deal with the fight between Zach and Calvin yesterday, not to mention Zach's final planned attempt at getting his way with Charlotte that caused it in the first place."

Calvin, Susan, and even Hobbes nodded their heads in agreement. "Yeah," said Calvin in agreement. He looked at Mr. Schuester, a slightly sheepish cringe of guilt on his face. "And furthermore," he gestured to indicate himself, Susan, Daniel, Diana, "we had intended to tell you about all that stuff, as well as the stuff that had happened before yesterday's after school session earlier this morning after our 1st period class." He hung his head. "But evidently, mine and Susan's parents beat us to it by dropping by here personally to tell the principal about it and let him break the news to you instead."

"You got that right," said Daniel. He looked over at Mr. Schuester. "And before it reached that point, if it makes you feel any better, Diana and I weren't aware of how Zach was starting to demonstrate such extreme behaviors like this until yesterday morning after we'd all arrived at school. In fact." He pointed behind him towards the four sophomores. "The oil on the hallway floor and his black comedy false stalking and bluff rape threats literally happened that very morning after we'd arrived at school. And as mean as what he did to Cody, Bailey, and Raj was, those actions were still comparatively minor grievances." He turned his head towards the trio in question. "No offense."

The trio nodded their heads up and down in understanding. After all, they knew that what Daniel had just said to describe their own personal grievances against Zach were for actions that had indeed been relatively minor misdemeanors compared to the more serious grievances he'd caused to Calvin, Susan, and the four sophomores, not to mention indirectly to Daniel and Diana through being such a huge jerk towards their fellow glee club members whom they hoped to befriend.

"And not only that," said Diana, now deciding to take over for her close friend and direct partner in glee club leadership. "But after we'd learned about the stuff that had happened on Monday and yesterday morning, Daniel and I had hoped to try to talk with Zach and get the whole mess quietly sorted out before it could get worse without having to worry you." She hung her head. "But as was proven by what happened after yesterday's after school glee club session, we were wrong."

Susan was nodding her head as well. "And finally, even before all that." She looked up at Mr. Schuester. "After that brief little bit of drama during the elections of the leads and deputy leads from Monday's after school session . . . well . . . we assumed that what had occurred during said moment of tension would have been enough for you to think it would probably be a good idea to keep an eye open in our regard."

Mr. Schuester took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I'll admit, with those first four details, I can give you some slack. The last one, however. . ." He sighed. "Don't you know what people always say about making assumptions? That doing so makes an ass out of yourselves and others?" He pointed at his thirteen students. "Well guess what; not only has your assumption from that early on managed, to a minor extent, to make asses out of you guys, but it has also," he indicated Calvin and Susan, "in the eyes of your parents, made a _serious_ ass out of me."

He pointed at Zach. "Thanks to _your_ actions."

He pointed at the other gleeks. "And your allowing it to be so that I didn't find out about any of it until literally this morning, and from Figgins and several of you guys' parents no less, my job as a teacher here, _and_ as your instructor and supervisor in this club; and through that, the very existence of this club itself; was very nearly put in jeopardy. And if this mess isn't sorted out by the end of this week at the very least, or the end of next month at the very most, then all that could very well _still_ be in jeopardy. Not only could I lose my job because of this, but the glee club could very well end up shut down. And with how much this club has been relying on me and all its various members over the last 25 years, a shut down for this club could very well be permanent! Is that what you want?!"

For a brief moment, dead silence hung in the air. Zach, in particular, looked like he'd been slapped in the face. "Jesus," he thought to himself. "I've seriously screwed things up _that_ badly?"

"Some friend you are."

Zach gaped at Daniel, who was now glaring at him with a quite disapproving glare in his gray eyes. "Look what you've done Zach. Not only have you betrayed me and Diana, soured our reputation as leaders and friends, and directly bullied everyone in this glee club apart from me, Diana, and the one slut in this club who actually _deserves_ to be bullied." Charlotte narrowed her eyes angrily upon hearing Daniel's quite unflattering description of her. "But you've _also_ ," Daniel continued, "endangered Mr. Schue's job security, placed this club's very existence on the line, _and_ placed all our futures _plus_ Diana's dreams at risk of never happening!" He pointed his finger accusingly at Zach. "Tell me this Martin Luther Benedict, are you happy now? Huh? Are you?!"

At that moment, Zach was about to yell back at Daniel in a mixture of anger, guilt, and embarrassment when Mr. Schuester put the kibosh on that plan with a second blaring, "ENOUGH!"

The gleeks all returned their attention to their teacher, who took three deep breaths, exhaling heavily each time. When the teacher finally directed his gaze at them once more, they could tell that he was now _really_ starting to lose his patience.

"That's it," Mr. Schuester growled. He pointed his finger at the New Directioneers, but particularly at Zach. "I've tried to let you all get to know each other, properly befriend or at least gain the ability to tolerate each other, and make an effort at properly getting yourselves all well and capable of functioning as a team on your own terms. But clearly, as a direct result of how overly optimistic I was in that regard for this week, all I've succeeded in, thanks to _you_." He very meaningfully jabbed his finger closer in Zach's direction while stressing the 'you'. "Is to make it so that you've not only gone out of your way to antagonize and bully your peers in this club to the point that you are now officially public enemy #1 amongst the entire McKinley High population, student or otherwise, but have also my job _and_ this club's very existence under threat of ceasing to exist!"

Zach gulped, and then hung his head, now feeling too guilty to try to defend himself. Daniel, Diana, and the 9 gleeks that Zach had directly antagonized also looked guilty and hung their heads, for while they felt quite happy deep down that Zach seemed quite likely to get punished for what he'd done to them, they also felt bad for unintentionally making their beloved teacher seem worthy of some of the blame in the eyes of their parents as a result of their failure to inform him of the whole mess before now. Charlotte, on the other hand, clearly seemed half concerned for Zach and half uncertain what to think about the whole matter.

"And if these are the kind of results I'm going to get by leaving you to your own devices, then I say I've let this go on long enough!" He lifted his finger away from its initial position of pointing at his students, his face similarly making it clear that he had made a decision, that it was final, and that it would allow for no arguments. "If you're not going to fully get to know each other and allow this new incarnation of New Directions to properly become a group and function as a team on your own, then by God I will _make_ you do so." He seemed to think to himself as if going over some math. "Starting today," he began. "All of you are going to spend an exact minimum of three hours directly working to bond with and similarly getting to know each other every school day. One hour minimum to be done here at school, and another two minimum to be done outside school. Furthermore, you are also required to spend an additional minimum of four hours getting to know each other in some fashion, whether it be by phone or in person, every weekend day. And this is required for every week until you and I both have deemed you all sufficiently bonded and indicative of being able to be friends and work as a team."

It took all of three seconds for the thirteen gleeks to realize just what Mr. Schuester had slammed them with; to all of them, however, it seemed considerably longer. But when they all realized the exact nature of what their teacher had just now said they were tasked to do, they were most certainly not happy.

"Are you serious?!" Darren yelled.

"Hate to say it," Mr. Schuester responded, "but yes I am." He nodded his head up and down with a resigned look on his face. "Look, I get that many you are going to have some very real reservations against this. . ."

"Oh, that's an understatement," Calvin hissed spitefully. He stood up from his seat. "I don't know about Fauxdonna over there," he then said as he pointed his finger at Charlotte. The head cheerio glowered at him upon hearing the newest unflattering nickname he'd chosen to refer to her by.

"But as for me," the autistic boy continued before he then moved his pointing finger to point at Zach, turning the rest of his body around to directly face the black boy in at the same time. "I refuse to associate with this serial rapist!"

Zach promptly stood up from his own seat, and turned to face Calvin with his own finger pointed at the autistic boy. "You paraphrased the words right out of my mouth, freakazoid!"

Under most circumstances, Calvin would have been angered even further upon being called 'freakazoid' or any other name that was in any way related to the word 'freak'. This time, however, Calvin was able to take note of an alternate detail from Zach's recent comment against him that made the autistic boy smirk smugly at him. "I may be a freak," said Calvin. He folded his arms across his chest. "But at least you're man enough to admit that I'm not a rapist like you are!"

Zach leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "Don't push me pal!"

Calvin leaned his own head forward towards Zach, eyes narrowed just as intently as the other boy's. "Or else what Kong!? You'll kill me? You already tried that once just yesterday! And you failed!"

In that instant, as Mr. Schuester started desperately yelling and trying to get Calvin and Zach to calm down and the other 11 gleeks watched intently to see how it would all go down, Calvin proceeded to point his finger once more at a still glowering Zach and yell, "Guess what! The roles are reversed in this story! This time, I, the t-rex, am the one whose defending his chosen mate, and you, King Kong, are the savage and horrible monster that I have to defend her from! And since you've already failed to defeat me once before, you sure ain't gonna snap this rex's jaws that easily on a rematch any more than you were capable of doing so the last time you tried to fight me!"

"Keep it civil! Keep it CIVIL! KEEP IT CIVIL GUYS!"

Calvin and Zach finally seemed to take note of Mr. Schuester's shouts, and Hobbes and the other 11 gleeks likewise directed their attention back to their teacher. He pointed his finger at them all once more, a firm, yet kind, look on his face. "Keep it civil." He took a deep breath, and then sighed. "Like I was saying, I get that many you are going to have some very real reservations against this, and I know that none of you are going to like having to go through with this suggestion. But for my sake, and the sake of this entire club, both now, and later in the year, I need you all to be able to get along and viably function as a team."

The teacher took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "And look," he continued. "Look on the bright side, I'm going to make it a gradual process."

"How?" asked Bailey.

"Simple," Mr. Schuester responded. "I'm gonna have you start by first splitting up into two groups; boys in one group, girls in the other."

He pointed at Daniel. "You and the rest of the boys will be gathering in one area."

He pointed at Diana. "You and the rest of the girls will be gathering in another area."

He lifted his finger. "And for today, in the place of the after-school session of glee club, both of your groups are required to perform a group number together in whatever separate area of the school you pick. And once _that's_ over with." He clapped his hands twice. "You all go home and gather together in your respective groups at whichever house or other location you pick."

Mr. Schuester turned around briefly and made his way towards the white board. "And over the course of the days that follow today until I deem you all to have sufficiently fulfilled the assigned goal," he turned around to face his students once more, "you shall continue to devote one hour of time here at school and two hours of time out of school working to bond and get to know each other in some capacity or other."

Mr. Schuester then leaned forward, eyes narrowed to indicate that he was serious, and he pointed at his thirteen students. "And most importantly," he began. "For the entirety of the time I deem this secondary exercise necessary, and in fact the entire school year if possible, but _especially_ the rest of this week, I want all of you to be on your best behavior, treat each other with respect, and keep things as civil, friendly, and drama free as possible." He directed his finger at Zach. "Especially you. Believe me Zach, if you pull anymore funny business this week and I'm lucky enough to be the first to find out about it, then I _will_ report it and let the authorities get involved."

At the sound of this, all the gleek's eyes widened. Even Hobbes appeared somewhat stunned by the news. Zach, however, was clearly the most surprised to hear Mr. Schuester say this. "What?!" he yelled. "You . . . you can't be serious!"

"I'm sorry I have to say this Zach," said Mr. Schuester. "But unlike you, I treat matters like this with the utmost sincerity; _not_ as jokes."

"Ain't that the truth," Darren snarled, directing a narrow-eyed glared at Zach in the process, clearly thinking about how Zach had behaved towards Amber and treated said behavior like a joke.

Zach winced upon receiving this cold hard reminder from Darren. "But," he began. "That will cost you your job, and get the glee club permanently disbanded!"

"Not if I'm the one who brings the matter to light first," said the teacher. He pointed at Zach once more. "Granted, doing so won't make up for what led to this current mess; but it will at least prove to the parents of all my other students, as well as any other people who could perhaps be keeping watch on me, that I am in fact truly capable of doing my job and making sure that the kids under my care are safe and well looked out for."

Zach vocally sputtered, trying to think up a comeback. He turned his head towards all the other members of the glee club. "Guys," he stated. "You've gotta back me up here."

Unfortunately for Zach, and quite naturally considering the circumstances, all the other gleeks were indicating that they were very clearly in agreement with Mr. Schuester and acknowledging that he'd made a fair point against Zach's recent attempt at counterarguing. Even Hobbes was taking part in such an indicative behavior as if he too knew full well what was going on and being talked about. But of course, what really made Zach's heart sink was how Daniel, Diana, and even Charlotte were clearly united in agreement over the current matter of discussion and on Mr. Schuester's side.

Zach turned his head to face Mr. Schuester once more, and his heart sank further when he saw the teacher nodding his head up and down as if to further confirm how all his other students were indeed on his side. Zach sputtered briefly once more. "You can't do this," Zach said quietly. "This is blackmail!"

Mr. Schuester took a step forward, a surprisingly loud _stomp_ that jolted and stunned all thirteen of the gleeks, plus Hobbes. "YOU THINK I _LIKE_ HAVING TO DO THIS!?"

Zach reared back in stunned shock. The other gleeks, plus Hobbes, likewise jolted back in surprise. Even Charlotte looked genuinely caught off guard by the unexpected angry outburst to have come from the usually kindly and tranquil Mr. Schuester. Clearly, Zach had managed to strike a serious nerve in the glee club's beloved director; but at that moment, not a single one of the students fully understood just how.

Zach was left quite lost for words for what seemed like an eternity. By the time he finally regained his voice and was about to speak once more, Mr. Schuester quite loudly revealed that he was far from finished. "WELL I DON'T! I DON'T LIKE HAVING TO DO THIS! IN FACT, I HATE IT JUST AS MUCH AS YOU DO ZACH!" The teacher pointed his finger at Zach once more, but this time with a particularly insistent undertone to the gesture. "BUT THE FACT IS THAT, RIGHT NOW, YOU'VE LEFT ME WITH ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER CHOICE! ZERO! ZILCH! NONE!"

The teacher leaned forward, his eyes now narrowed. "I MAY HAVE LET PUCK AND SEVERAL OTHER BAD BOYS TO FOLLOW HIM GET AWAY WITH THEIR SHENANIGANS, BUT THEY NEVER WENT ANYWHERE NEAR AS FAR AS YOU'VE NOW PROVEN YOURSELF WILLING TO GO! HONESTLY ZACH, ATTEMPTED _RAPE_?! ATTEMPTED _MURDER_?! NONE OF MY PREVIOUS BAD BOY STUDENTS EVER _DARED_ TO TRY THAT KIND OF STUFF! HELL! NOT EVEN _PUCK_ DARED GO THAT FAR! AND HE WENT TO _JUVIE_! I KNOW I SAID YESTERDAY AFTER HEARING YOUR PERFORMANCE THAT HE WOULD HAVE BEEN HONORED; BUT HE'D BE ASHAMED IF HE WERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT _THIS_! _ASHAMED_ ZACH! ASHAMED!"

Zach was left wordlessly sputtering and floundering, desperately trying to think of something to say. As Zach was still stuck in this inability to respond and defend himself, Mr. Schuester walked up to Zach, clearly still angry, came to a stop in front of the boy, and leaned forward so they could stare at each other face to face. "I've heard you claim many times around this school over the past two years that you're one of the manliest male students here. Is that true?"

For a brief moment, Zach mentally blanked, caught off guard by the apparent change in subject and lowered volume, and unsure of how to respond. Then he eventually managed to take a deep breath, look back at the teacher, and shakily respond, "Yes."

'THEN PROVE IT!" Mr. Schuester roared. "PROVE THAT YOU'RE A MAN! GROW UP! TAKE PART IN THIS BONDING ACTIVITY! AND FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE," he thrusted his head forward towards Zach's face, "BEHAVE!"

For what seemed like forever, Zach was left open-mouthed, wide-eyed, and stunned speechless at Mr. Schuester's venomous tirade against him. Then, little by little, he managed to look in the direction of each and every one of his peers in the glee club, including Hobbes. All of them were glaring him at him with expression that ranged from smug satisfaction to hateful snarls. Even Daniel and Diana were now glaring at him with such apparently hateful levels of rage in their stormy gray and venomous green eyes that Zach briefly found his more fanciful side quite honestly believing that he was inches away from seeing either bolts of lightning literally flashing in Daniel's eyes or corrosive venom dripping from Diana's mouth like some deranged nightmarish snake. And of course, much to Zach's despair, even Charlotte was now directing a very real narrow-eyed look of disapproval at him.

After seeing all this, and then slowly realizing that absolutely no one, not even Charlotte or any of his two supposed best friends, was on his side, he gulped, turned his head back to Mr. Schuester, and then hung his head in shame. "Yes, Mr. Schue," he said dejectedly with guilt. "I will."

"Good," Mr. Schuester responded bluntly. He pointed at the choir room door. "Now get the Hell out of my choir room."

In an almost freakishly well timed turn of events, the bell to signify the end of the recess session literally rang at _exactly_ that very moment. Upon hearing this, Zach couldn't have been more eager to leave the choir room, and he practically bolted out of the room, barely even managing to take ahold of his backpack and carry it with him, long before the other gleeks had even had the chance to stand up.

 **And just like that, a new chapter finally done and posted! Again, I hope you all enjoyed this after the long wait! Furthermore, here's to hoping that I receive at least one (maybe TWO if I'm lucky) reviews for this chapter. Remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 review (although 2 reviews is also strongly encouraged) for this chapter by the time I've completed the next chapter. Without that requirement fulfilled, then I just simply cannot post the next chapter upon its completion. Again, hope you had fun with this chapter and leave plenty of feedback! ^_^**

 **Coming up Next: In the time that would have originally served as the time for the after-school session of glee club, the gleeks all get to work on their sessions of forced bonding time together; complete with the guys getting things started up on the football field and the girls grooving out (and in a quite unique fashion; in more than one definition of the term) in the auditorium. And once that's over, while Zach heads straight for home to receive his punishment from his parents for his recent actions, the other guys, as well as the girls, head on to hang out at Daniel and Diana's homes to continue their part for the day in Mr. Schue's now mandatory secondary assignment for them to bond and get to know each other. Sound like fun? I certainly hope so! Fair warning though, this particular chapter could take a while. Nonetheless, hope you all look forward to it! ^_^**


	14. Forced Bonding Time

**Finally! A new chapter! Sorry once again for the long wait. On the bright side though, at least I gave fair warning at the end of the previous chapter right? And of course, today the wait is finally over ^_^. And I'll admit, this is definitely one of my longer chapters. In this chapter, the New Directions boys and girls meet up to do fulfill their parts in their newly assigned secondary assignment, both on school grounds in the place of what would have been their after-school glee club session, and outside school at Daniel and Diana's homes. And furthermore, once his part for the 'on school grounds' segment of the bonding time is over, Zach returns home and receives his much deserved and awaited punishment for his crimes. Sound worth the wait? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: Before we begin, let me just quickly remind you once more that I do not own Glee, or any of the songs performed in this chapter. All I own are my OCs. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the story!**

 **Chapter 14:**

 **Forced Bonding Time**

A good couple hours later, Daniel sighed, and shook his head side to side with his eyes closed. "Good God Zach," he thought to himself. "Why did you have to make my life become so difficult this week?"

At that particular moment, the quarterback and male lead of the New Directions was hanging around by himself in the boy's locker room, and with his head leaning up against one of the lockers as he tried to keep himself calm and wrap his head around just how very difficult the task he was now trying to do on Mr. Schuester's mandatory request that should have been quite easy had now turned out to be.

At first, when all the gleeks had met up in front of the choir room door with Mr. Schuester at around the time the after-school glee club sessions had usually begun the past few days, things had seemed like they'd turn out ok enough. They'd all managed to meet up with Mr. Schuester, be divided into their respective groups, and be sent on their way to find a place to gather and do their group number without a hitch. Admittedly though, the smug smirk that had been on the other students' faces when Mr. Schuester had informed Zach of his parents making it clear that they wanted him to come straight back home after school without making any stops along the way, and that this news made him officially exempted from joining the other boys at wherever location Daniel picked for them to continue bonding after departure from school, had most certainly not escaped his attention. The location that the boys had chosen to do their work for the secondary assignment, meanwhile turned out to be the football field.

On the way to the football field, there had been a small moment of somewhat minor tension when the group had reached the boy's locker room. Not too long after entering, the six neurotypical boys had been promptly made aware of Calvin's higher sensitivity to certain sensory stimuli when the autistic boy had paused, panting and waving his hand in the air in front of his face upon getting a whiff of the smell of the air within the room. To be fair, even the two athletes amongst the group could agree that there was a definitely a quite strong smell within the locker room.

Zach, however, had chosen to take advantage of this newfound opportunity to make a dig at Calvin. And as Daniel could remember quite clearly now, Zach had gone so far as to scoff and then say, "Oh come on! No need to act so melodramatic!" He had then made a point to take a deep whiff, and then exhale in a surprisingly loud sigh of contentment. "Honestly pal, it's all nice and rosy in here!"

Daniel had still had his eyes closed, teeth gritted, and the rest of his face likewise tensed into a wince when Calvin had promptly responded. "Rosy my ass!" The autistic boy had then gestured off to a random area to the side and continued with, "It smells like a herd of elephants went to the bathroom in here!"

Dunlap and Darren had seemingly winced upon hearing that description. "Did not need that image," Darren had gone so far as to say seconds after that.

At that moment, Zach had been about to say another barbed response before Daniel had pointedly snarled, "Guys." That one word, and the tone with which Daniel had spoken it had been enough to get Calvin and Zach calmed down and to take their minds off their feud long enough for Daniel to calmly suggest for Calvin to use his shirt as a makeshift mask to filter the scent. And from there, the seven gleek boys had made it through the locker room and out onto the football field with no further hassle.

However, it wasn't until the seven boys and Hobbes had all gathered around in the football field that things had finally started getting a little too overwhelming for Daniel. What had happened to cause Daniel to come to this point? One word; balls. Daniel, Calvin, Dunlap, Darren, Cody, and Raj (plus, of course, Hobbes) had promptly grouped up together and were more than willing and prepared to get to work on bonding with each other and deciding upon a song to perform for a group number together.

Zach, however, had turned out to have other ideas; and had made it seem quite clear that he still didn't exactly appear to be taking the matters seriously. To be more specific, immediately after noticing that Zach hadn't joined up with them, the rest of the boys had looked around in time to catch him giggling around and juggling footballs, still standing in the exact spot he'd been in when the rest of them had moved over to gather around.

Daniel, irritated yet again by how needlessly difficult Zach was now making this whole ordeal, sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched his nose, exhaling heavily. "Good God, man," he grumbled irritably to himself in his mind.

Unfortunately, Daniel's irritated pause upon seeing Zach's current antics soon proved to be a mistake. For in pausing in that way, he'd unwittingly ended up allowing just enough time to pass for Calvin to beat him to the punch in calling Zach out on his behavior. Daniel had just opened his eyes after hearing Calvin yell at Zach in time to see Zach grin in smug triumph from clearly having expected for Calvin to be the one to respond in irritation to his current antics. And before long, despite Daniel's best efforts, Zach, Calvin, and the other four 'subordinate' gleek boys had promptly started squabbling and arguing heatedly. And while Daniel had eventually managed to get them all settled down and cease the argument, the next few comments from Zach and Calvin had almost immediately gotten them all squabbling again! At which point, Daniel had been forced to yell "ENOUGH!" to get them to stop. And when this second argument had finally been quite effectively stopped, Daniel had proceeded to groan in irritation, lift his eyes to Heaven, and then promptly storm back off into the boy's room, telling them that he'd now been quite in need of a break from all the stress they were now putting him through, but not without making a very strongly implied threat on how angry he'd be if he were to catch them squabbling all over again when he came back.

Thus, now Daniel was currently still in the locker room, ¾ away from finally calming back down, but also nowhere close to looking forward to going back out to the football field and deal with is six fellow boy gleeks all over again. He sighed, face-palmed, and then shook his head side to side. He exhaled heavily in irritation. "Good Godfrey," he grumbled under his breath. "How the heck does Mr. Schue do it? Hell, how the Devil was Finn Hudson able to stand this kind of travesty?"

He sighed, lifted his head to face the locker room ceiling, and then sighed yet again. He looked down towards the pants pocket where his cell phone was located. After about a minute of hesitant inner debate, he drew his phone out of his pocket and proceeded to unlock it and access his contacts. "That's it," he thought to himself, clearly still quite peeved at the whole mess he was now going through. "I could _so_ use Mr. Schue's help right now."

Having thus made his decision, Daniel proceeded to access Mr. Schuester's phone number (which the teacher had been nice enough to provide to all thirteen of the gleeks in their brief meeting from directly before splitting off in their respective groups to take part in the newly assigned secondary assignment), and initiate a call. After about 30 seconds, Mr. Schuester answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Mr. Schue," said Daniel. "It's me, Daniel Taymor."

"Good to know," said the teacher. "I'm guessing, however, that the reason you're calling me isn't strictly to say a friendly hello."

Daniel sighed. "Sadly, yes."

"What's the problem?" Mr. Schuester asked, his voice tone clearly indicating that he was genuinely concerned.

"It's Zach and the rest of the boys," Daniel responded bitterly. He sighed. "Look, I wasn't expecting this to be easy. But honestly Mr. Schue, with all of Zach's current antics and how easily he, Calvin, and the rest of the guys are getting on each other's nerves and squabbling with Zach and each other, I'm really can't seem to have any idea on how to keep them all civil and under control sufficiently enough to properly get things to work out for us the way you want."

The gray eyed Daniel Radcliffe lookalike pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes, and sighed irritably. "Honestly Mr. Schue, it's only the exact middle of my very first full week as both a member, _and_ the male lead, of New Directions, and all this drama and travesty is already driving me up the wall."

"I can imagine."

"Why am I not surprised?" Daniel asked himself rhetorically. He sighed once more. "Look, the point is, I could really use your help right now."

"Well I can try to at least give you some tips and advice here on the phone right now," said Mr. Schuester. "But I'd best remind you that I can't constantly intervene to help you every time things start heading south for you in your efforts at properly working as a leader of this club."

"I know that," Daniel grumbled. "And I'm saying that that's what I want you to do, I'm just asking for a little help for at least this one little time. And this is only the first time I've asked you for this kind of assistance in glee club matters!"

"I know Daniel, I know," Mr. Schuester responded in a firm, yet still patient and kind, tone. "I'm just making sure you are fully aware of and understand this matter."

Daniel sighed in a half irritated and half exhausted tone.

"But never mind that for now," said Mr. Schuester. "Look, here's the best I can give you for now. Here's what I'm now thinking from what you've told me, and correct me if I'm wrong. Right now, what I'm gathering from the information you've given me is that the rest of the boys don't yet fully seem to fully be at the level where they're ready and willing to 100% answer to you and act as if you're their leader."

"Well," said Daniel. "You're not entirely wrong there."

"I thought so," said the teacher. "And right now, I think that's the crux of the current matter."

Daniel raised his eyebrow. "Do clarify."

"You know how you're currently, to a slight extent, still viewing me as being the 100% overall leader of the New Directions as a whole? And in doing so, you've possibly not quite fully accepted and come to terms with the fact that you're technically also essentially a leader of this club?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes, and drew breath as if about to respond.

"I said to a _slight_ extent Daniel," said Mr. Schuester, clearly aware of the somewhat insulting undertones in his previous comment. "And _possibly_."

Daniel thought to himself, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Fair enough," he admitted. "Continue."

"Well here's the thing," Mr. Schuester continued. "I think that, like you, but to a far bigger extent, the rest of the guys, and likely all the girls for that matter, are still too reliant on having me play the leader role. And this fact, combined with how you, and potentially Diana, are possibly just as reliant on that element to a smaller degree than they are, is what's making it so difficult for them to properly act as if you're their leaders and for you to confidently and properly act as if you truly are in fact leaders of this club in your own right as the male and female lead."

Daniel thought to himself, and then sighed, and hung his head. "Sadly enough," he admitted, "that actually does make sense."

"And I'm sorry that it does," said Mr. Schuester. "But don't feel too bad; you're not the first lead and captain of this club to have to deal with this kind of situation. This very club itself, when under the name of New Directions never even truly had an established duo of captains serving as male and female lead until the time of yearbook pictures for the winter portion of the 2009-2010 school year. And belief me, Finn and Rachel had just as much trouble at the time of getting everyone else in the club to start viewing them just as much leaders and equal to being answered to alongside me as you, and potentially Diana, are; not to mention so did Ryder and Marley and all the other captain lead duos to come between them and you."

"It still feels awful to go through," said Daniel.

"I know," said Mr. Schuester. "But nonetheless, I do know the best course of action for you to take to get this unpleasant matter over with; though I do have a bad feeling you probably won't like it."

"Thanks for the warning," said Daniel.

"In that case," said Mr. Schuester. Daniel heard the teacher take a deep breath, and then exhale. "I know you want all your fellow members of this club; except Charlotte that is; to be your friend, and that you're trying your best to be as relatively nice to them as you can virtually all the time in which you're interacting with them. But sometimes, like in this situation, you have to act a little rough around them."

Daniel winced, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth. Just as Mr. Schuester had suspected would be the case, Daniel did not like the sound of that suggestion. "Do I really have to?" he asked. "You said it best, I really don't like having to act mean towards my friends, or any people that I want to be friends with for that matter."

"I know it's not the most savory of ideas for you," said Mr. Schuester. "But the sad truth is, with the way you're currently attempting to do your work as a leader for this club, it seems to much as if you're still not 100% confident enough about the fact that you even truly are a leader, let alone in your skills as one. And as long as you continue to give off that kind of vibe, the others will take notice of it and continue to act as if you're not their leader and that they're free to do as they see fit unless I intervene and get them to act under _my_ authority instead of yours.

"To put it simply," the teacher continued. "If you want to be able to adequately serve as a leader of this club like Finn Hudson and all your other predecessors, you need to be able to take charge. You need to be able to be decisive, to take the initiative, and genuinely prove that you're capable of being a leader as well as willing and unafraid to do what absolutely needs to be done for the good of this entire club and all its individual members. Because unless you can prove to them that you yourself believe that you're a leader, then they won't believe you're a leader to them either."

Daniel thought to himself, sighed, and nodded his head somberly. "I suppose that's true," he admitted grudgingly.

"Thank you," said Mr. Schuester. "And like I said, I know that what I'm suggesting is a little out of your comfort zone considering just who I'm suggesting for you to take this approach towards. But think of it this way, it's not like you're going to be beating them up, yelling at them nonstop, treating them like they're beneath you and inferior to you, doing a 'your way, or the highway' approach 24/7 with them, or similarly acting like an all-out asshole, right?"

Daniel shuddered. "Good God, no."

"Alright see there?" said Mr. Schuester. "That behavior I just talked about that you shot down? _That_ level of behavior is _definitely_ mean. Compare those behaviors you just shot down, and any similar behavior for that matter, with what I'm suggesting for you to do. Is what I'm suggesting for you to do truly all that mean compared to how much _worse_ you could be treating them?"

Daniel thought to himself some more, and then let a small smile come to his face. Now that he thought about it, what Mr. Schuester was suggesting for him now didn't really seem all that bad an idea, or really all that truly mean compared to how mean he _could_ have been getting asked to treat the other gleeks instead. "No," he said. "I suppose not."

"Perfect," said Mr. Schuester. "See? I'm not asking you to truly be all that mean. All you need to do is to just be firm enough to prove that you're confident and believing enough in yourself and your skill as a leader, yet still nice enough for the others to treat you like a leader and still be willing to consider you as a friend at the same time. Nothing too extreme or mean spirited, right?"

"Right." Daniel nodded.

"But know this," said Mr. Schuester. "If there are ever any times where you end up outright yelling and berating anyone in this club, please do make sure that it's only at times in which you truly believe that you absolutely _must_. Save it for when there's something or someone involved that's truly, genuinely, making you angry enough to just flat out _need_ to yell. Again, don't yell _all_ the time; just the times when you truly believe that the situation calls for it."

"Noted," said Daniel. "Thanks Mr. Schue. I'll see what I can do. But I can't promise you anything other than that."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said the teacher. "Good luck Daniel."

"Thank you," said Daniel. "Bye."

"Goodbye."

Daniel hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Keep it together," he thought to himself. "I can do this." He opened his eyes and gazed confidently back in the direction of the exit leading onto the football field. "Here goes." With his head held high, gray eyes agleam with confident determination, and his mind set, he began to resolutely march his way back to the football field.

Unfortunately, the minute he was halfway through the small tunnel that led from the locker room to the football field, he jerked to a stop upon hearing what sounded like the absolute last thing he'd wanted to hear. He promptly rushed towards the football field. "No, no, no," he thought to himself.

Sadly, the source of the noise turned out to be indeed what Daniel had feared it would be. The rest of the boys were gathered in the very center of the football field; and just as Daniel had come to fear, Calvin and Zach were tensed up and facing each other, clearly prepared to fight, while Cody, Raj, and the two sophomores were positioned in a circle around them egging the two combatants to get on with their seemingly quite imminent combat.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" shouted the four onlookers while Calvin snarled and Zach kept a cocky grin on his face. Even Hobbes was in on the action, barking again and again in clear encouragement of his master.

Daniel hurriedly ran over to where the drama was unfolding. "Guys!" he yelled. "What are you doing?! Stop this!"

Sadly, the other boys ignored him. For another few minutes, Daniel tried again and again to get their attention and put a stop to the rapidly escalating drama. It soon became quite clear, however, that his current efforts were not going to get him anywhere.

Then Daniel remembered the advice Mr. Schuester had given him; particularly about moments in which he believed he absolutely _had_ to yell. "If this doesn't count as a moment where yelling is truly the only answer," he thought to himself, "I don't know what will." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Here goes nothing."

While Calvin and Zach continued circling around in preparation for their supposed upcoming fight, and the other four boys continued egging them on, Daniel took another deep breath, and crouched downward with bent knees, clenched fists, and his head facing the ground. Then he abruptly straightened back up and thrusted his head and upper body towards the other six boys. "ENOUGH!"

The other six boys, plus Hobbes, instantaneously snapped their heads to face Daniel, all sharing the exact same shocked expression on their faces from hearing Daniel's abrupt, and surprisingly loud and angry sounding, shout. This same shock only strengthened when they got an eyeful of Daniel tensed up, gray eyes blazing with rage, and his teeth gritted nightmarishly as he emitted a series of angry panting snarls. One look at the currently quite enraged looking Daniel, combined with the sound of how he'd damn near roared at them just now, was all the other boys needed to know that the current male lead of the New Directions was not happy. Not. Happy. At all. Even Hobbes very glaringly kept silent.

Daniel snarled one last time, took a deep breath, and then practically spat it right back out. "That's it," he hissed. He looked directly at his six peers; particularly at Zach. "I am sick and tired of dealing with your crap!"

Silence hung in the air as the still quite angry Daniel managed to miraculously allow his six peers a chance to let the news sink in. Zach gulped, turned his head to face Calvin, and then nervously said, "Yeah, you heard him, he's sick and tired of dealing with your crap right now." Calvin's eyes narrowed, and he turned his head to face Zach, angry retort seconds away from leaving his mouth.

This time, however, Daniel was fast enough to beat the autistic boy to it. He took a step towards Zach. "I was talking to _you_!" At the exact moment he said this, Daniel very forcefully jabbed his right pointer finger against Zach's chest to emphasize his words and leave no room for doubt.

Zach briefly stumbled backwards, now looking more shocked and ever. He got his voice back seconds later. "What?" he said. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me Zackary!" Daniel howled. "You know damn well what I'm talking about!"

He gestured at their five peers. "For the last two days, plus most of today so far, you've been doing nothing but antagonizing and going out of your way to make life miserable for everyone in this club! Me and Diana included!"

He lifted his hands in the air, gray eyes now practically glowing as he reached another point that got him even _angrier_. "And look at this! Do you have any sense of decency at all?! You're already in enough trouble as it is for all the stuff you did the past two days!" He adjusted his attention to focus on all six of his peers, plus Hobbes, as well as Zach. "Not to mention, I specifically _told_ you guys to stay civil while I was gone! And _what_ did I just come back to?!"

The other five boys apart from Daniel and Zach promptly gulped, and hung their heads, suitably chastened. Even Hobbes bowed his head in apparent shame. Daniel snorted, directed his full focus back on Zach, and continued, "Honestly Zach, what is wrong with you!? Can you not spend _any_ time around us without needlessly causing trouble amongst us? And after how much you've jeopardized this club's existence, Mr. Schuester's job security, and all of our lives, futures, and dreams no less?!"

Zach pointed his finger towards Calvin, now acting entirely on heat of the moment snap decisions in a desperate effort to continue trying to shift blame away from him and make himself feel better. "He started it this time!"

"Did not!" Calvin shouted.

"You did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"ENOUGH!"

Calvin and Zach ceased their argument and redirected their attention back to Daniel, who now looked even angrier than before. The black haired and gray eyed boy snarled, shook his head side to side, and then snorted. "Look Zach," he spat. "I don't care _who_ started it this time! But regardless of who started _this_ bit of needless tension, it ends _now_! And not just this little debacle either! I want all; and I mean _all_ ; of your crazy, stupid-ass, and needlessly mean spirited shenanigans to stop! TODAY! HERE! AND NOW!"

After another few seconds of silence, with Hobbes and the five bystanders amongst the boys silently watching, Zach finally managed to respond. "Daniel," he said. "Please. Let me explain. . ."

"I'm serious!" Daniel sighed. "All your shenanigans. I want them ceased and desisted today! Right here! Right now! That is a direct order!"

Zach's eyes narrowed upon hearing that last phrase. "And who are you to give me orders? You're not Mr. Schue!"

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!"

Zach reared back, stunned once again at how his trump card comment had failed to effect Daniel the way he'd hoped it would. Before he could say anything else, Daniel continued. "WELL I KNOW I'M NOT MR. SCHUESTER! AND I KNOW THAT I SURE AS _HELL_ AIN'T THE DIRECTOR OF THIS CLUB! BUT THE PLAIN AND SIMPLE FACT IS THAT I'M STILL AT LEAST THE MALE LEAD, _AND_ ONE OF _TWO_ CAPTAINS OF THIS CLUB! AND IF MR. SCHUESTER ISN'T AROUND TO TAKE CHARGE, DIANA AND I _ARE_ IN CHARGE!"

The five onlookers amongst the boys looked each other in the eyes. Daniel had a point. And now that they thought about it, as much as Daniel and Diana had never yet before really shown any signs of confidence in their having any authority in the glee club, they themselves had likewise never yet fully taken their captains' positions as leaders seriously either. But now, from the way Daniel was now behaving, it was quite clear that he was taking his position, and the authority that came with it, very seriously indeed. And he was _not_ happy with how chaotic things had gotten in the time it had taken for him to step up to the plate and properly take charge.

Daniel jabbed his finger towards Zach once more. "AND CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT YOU WERE EVEN NOW CONTINUING TO DISREGARD MR. SCHUESTER'S OWN AUTHORITY BY CONTINUING TO DRUM UP YET MORE CHAOS RIGHT HERE BEHIND HIS BACK, THEN CLEARLY IT'S UP TO ME TO PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE AND STOP YOU FROM RUINING EVERYTHING!"

"I'm just trying to look for out you man!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Daniel roared. "YOU'RE JUST BEING SELFISH ZACKARY! IF YOU CARED AT ALL ABOUT ME AND HOW MUCH A FRIEND I AM TO YOU, YOU'D ACCEPT THE FACT THAT I _WANT_ TO HAVE MORE THAN JUST YOU AND DIANA TO CALL FRIENDS! IF YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT ME AS A FRIEND, IT WOULDN'T MATTER WHAT SOCIAL STANDING OR SIMILAR ATTRIBUTES MY CHOICES OF FRIENDS COME WITH; NOT AS LONG AS I WAS HAPPY WITH HAVING THEM AS FRIENDS! IF YOU REALLY CARED ABOUT ME AS A FRIEND, YOU'D SURE AS HELL WOULDN'T BE GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY TO RUIN MY LIFE! AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HOW YOU'RE ALSO DOING EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO ANTAGONIZE EVERYONE IN THIS CLUB THAT I WANT TO BEFRIEND, SABOTAGE DIANA AND MY CREDIBILITY AS FRIENDS AND LEADERS, DESTROY ALL OUR FUTURES, KILL DIANA'S DREAMS, _AND_ DISRESPECT MR. SCHUESTER AND FORCE HIM OUT OF A JOB!"

"That's not what I want!" Zach yelled.

"THEN ACT LIKE IT'S NOT WHAT YOU WANT! GROW UP! BEHAVE! OWN UP TO YOUR DAMN MISTAKES! LOSE THE ATTITUDE! SHOW SOME RESPECT! ACT LIKE YOU REMOTELY GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT DIANA AND I WANT! STOP ACTING LIKE A PREJUDICED ASSHOLE TOWARDS ALL MY OTHER FRIENDS! AND START ACTING THE WAY A _REAL_ FRIEND WOULD BEHAVE! BECAUSE GUESS WHAT ZACKARY! AFTER ALL YOU'VE DONE OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, I'M ACTUALLY _GLAD_ THAT CALVIN STOPPED ME FROM SELECTING YOU AS MY DEPUTY!"

Zach felt as if he'd been utterly bulldozed in the gut upon hearing this, and the five bystander gleeks, plus Hobbes, merely gaped in stunned silence at Daniel. Daniel, however, wasn't finished. "YEAH THAT'S RIGHT! YOU HEARD ME! I'M _GLAD_ NOW THAT CALVIN VOLUNTEERED HIMSELF TO BE MY DEPUTY BEFORE I COULD OFFICIALLY APPOINT YOU AS MY DEPUTY LIKE I'D INITIALLY PLANNED! BECAUSE AFTER ALL YOU'VE DONE OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS SINCE, IT ONLY GOES TO SHOW HOW MUCH WORSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I _HAD_ SUCCESSFULLY SELECTED YOU AS MY DEPUTY! NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT ALL YOUR BEHAVIOR LATELY TOWARDS EVERYONE IN THIS CLUB APART FROM ME, DIANA, AND WHORELETTE ONLY FURTHER CONFIRMS HOW HORRIBLE OF A CHOICE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN AS MY SECOND IN COMMAND IN THIS CLUB! WHY? BECAUSE CLEARLY, ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOUR OWN DAMN HAPPINESS AND GETTING WHATEVER _YOU_ , NOT ANYONE ELSE, _YOU_ WANT! WHILE ALSO SUBSEQUENTLY NOT GIVING TWO SHITS ABOUT THE GOOD OF THIS CLUB, THE HAPPINESS OF YOUR TWO SUPPOSED BEST FRIENDS, OR ALL THE LIVES, FUTURES, AND DREAMS YOU'RE PULLING ALL THE STOPS TO RUIN, SABOTAGE, AND NULLIFY THE CHANCES OF EVER COMING TRUE!"

Daniel grabbed Zach by both lapels of his shirt, yanked the other boy forwards, and thrusted his head directly into Zach's face. "BECAUSE THAT'S ALL YOU'VE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS, _AND_ THIS MORNING! AND IT NEEDS TO STOP!" He snarled, his teeth gritted and showing, and his gray eyes erupting with hate and rage. "AS OF NOW," he snarled, "I AM DONE WITH MESSING AROUND AND LETTING YOU GET AWAY WITH ALL THIS TRAVESTY! I AM SICK OF ALL THIS NEEDLESS DRAMA AND ADDITIONAL DIFFICULTY THAT YOU'RE SO HELLBENT ON FORCING UPON ME AND THIS CLUB! AND I AM TIRED OF LETTING DIANA AND I SEEM LIKE INCOMPETENT WORTHLESS LEADERS AND HORRIBLE FRIENDS BECAUSE OF YOUR BRAINLESS AND HIGH HANDED REFUSAL TO CARE ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOUR OWN GODDAMN SELF!"

He moved his face even closer to Zach's. "NOW EITHER GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME, GROW A DAMN HEART, AND TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!" He thrusted his head even _further_ forward. "OR GET OUT OF MY CLUB, OUT OF MY SIGHT, AND OUT OF MY LIFE!"

Time seemed to freeze. The five bystanders amongst the group of boys, plus Hobbes, could only stand where they were and watch in varying degrees of shock, smug satisfaction, or even full blown pride as Daniel continued to snarl and gaze damn near hatefully at the very much stunned speechless and utterly slammed Zach. In fact, Zach was even now rapidly thinking to himself in shock and horror over all that Daniel had just said. At first, he tried desperately to convince himself that maybe Daniel didn't truly mean what he was saying as well as to somehow mentally shift blame away from himself yet again. But then, after what seemed like an eternity, he took one good long solid look into Daniel's gray eyes, saw the blazing hatred and rage within them, and gulped as he finally realized that Daniel was being 100% serious in both his behavior, and his words. Then Zach found himself on the verge of tears as he logically switched from that matter to the point of finally admitting in his mind the truth that Daniel had now so brutally forced him to admit to despite how he himself should have done exactly that a long time ago; that he truly did have only himself to blame for all the bad things that were now happening to him, that he had indeed in fact been causing far more damage and harm than he had thought he was, and had succeeded in merely two full days in proving his father's fears from the beginning of the week 100% correct. With a final gulp, and a closing of his eyes, Zach hung his head, now no longer trusting himself to look Daniel, or any of the other boys, in the eye. "Yes Daniel," he managed to say weakly. "I understand."

"Good," Daniel snorted coldly. "You'd better." Without another word, he practically pushed Zach away, and then he turned to face the other boys. "You guys get all that?" The other boys all promptly indicated 'yes'. Even Hobbes nodded his head up and down and let off two barks to indicate his own understanding. "Good," said Daniel. He slammed his right fist into his left palm. "Now let's get to work. Mr. Schuester made it crystal clear that we need to perform a group number here before we leave school. And the sooner we get that over with and leave this school to bond some more at my place and get Zach out of our hair, the better."

Zach mentally winced upon hearing that last bit, but wisely chose to remain silent. As mean as Daniel was currently acting in his regard, his friend had every right to behave the way he was currently behaving, and any complaint about it would only bring further pain upon himself.

"Alright," said Daniel. "If any of you guys have an idea for a song, raise your hand."

The other boys all started thinking to themselves, trying to come up with a song to suggest for their group number. Except for Zach. At that moment, he a feeling that even if he did think up an idea, it would probably not a wise idea for him to try to suggest it to Daniel while his friend was in his current state of mind.

Dunlap's crimson eyes widened, a clear 'Eureka!' look on his face. Daniel noticed this, and promptly responded before the albino boy even had a chance to raise his hand. "You have an idea?" he asked.

"I think so," said Dunlap. "There was something you said to Zach. It was in about a similar vein as getting his head out of the clouds. . ."

"Get your head in the game," said Calvin.

"That's right!" Dunlap eagerly yelled. "Get your head in the game! That's it! Thank you, Calvin!"

"What's that have to do with anything?" Daniel asked.

But Calvin had managed to catch on, and he decided to answer for Dunlap. He beckoned for the other guys to gather close to him, though with noticeable reluctance when he indicated that Zach was allowed to join in and be made aware of the knowledge alongside them.

The boys all gathered together around Calvin, who proceeded to inform them of exactly what song Dunlap had now gotten inspired into suggesting as a result of Daniel's tirade against Zach. It didn't take long at all for the other subordinate gleek boys to agree with the choice. Even Daniel and Zach promptly nodded their heads with smiles on their faces.

"I'll admit," said Daniel. "A good idea." He thought to himself. "Ok . . . I just realized, how are we going to get the music we need for it?"

"Have no fear," said Calvin as he drew out his IPod from his pants pocket and started looking through his music. "I've got it right on here," he explained. "And best of all, this particular IPod has a setting that allows me to place a delay between the selection of the song and the moment it actually starts playing. Thus, we'll have plenty of time to fully prepare ourselves for when the music starts."

Calvin found the song in question, walked over to the bleachers in front of him, placed the IPod on top of the lowest bleacher, selected the song, and then hurriedly rushed back to join up with the other boys. Hobbes, meanwhile, calmly loped off to an area right next to where his master had left the IPod, thus getting himself to a safe and appropriate distance where he could watch without getting in the way of the upcoming performance.

Seconds later, Daniel had just enough time to suddenly pick up a football, the other boys promptly doing the same without thinking, before the music for the chosen song finally began. And when the music in question began, it didn't take the boys long at all to almost instantaneously get into the spirit of the song in question, even going so far as to 'dribble' their footballs, some in more unique ways than others. By the time the moment in which the actual singing portion of the song came along, all seven of them were very much in the right mood. The resulting performance went something like this:

 _(Daniel:)_

 _Coach said to fake right, and break left  
Watch out for the pick and keep an eye on defense  
Gotta run the give and go, and take the ball to the hole  
But don't be afraid to shoot the outside "J"  
Just keep ya head in the game  
Just keep ya head in the game  
And don't be afraid to shoot the outside "J"  
(Turns and runs toward the other boys)_

 _Just keep ya head in the game  
(Scene Break: All the boys come together in a 'football huddle')  
U gotta  
Get'cha, get'cha head in the game  
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)  
U gotta  
Get'cha, get'cha head in the game  
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)  
Come on_

 _(Break from huddle)  
Get'cha, get'cha head in the game  
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)  
U gotta get'cha, (Other Boys: Get our) get'cha, (Other Boys: Get our) head in the game  
(Other Boys: We gotta get our, get our, get our, get our head in the game)  
(All:)_

 _Whoo!  
(Daniel:)  
Let's make sure that we get the rebound (Zach throws his football onto the ground and causes it to bounce right back into his hands)  
'Cause when we get it then the crowd will go wild (Calvin: Roar!)  
A second chance, gotta grab it and go  
Maybe this time, we'll hit the right nooooooootes  
Wait a minute, it's not the time or place  
Wait a minute, get my head in the game  
Wait a minute, get my head in the game  
(All seven of the boys start running skipping forward)_

 _Wait a minute, wait a minute  
(Scene Break: The boys have stopped skipping and start taking part in a High School Musical level dance routine)_

 _(Daniel:)_

 _I gotta  
Get my, get my head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
I gotta  
Get my, get my head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
Come on  
Get my, get my head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
I gotta get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
(All:)_

 _Whoo!  
(Daniel:)  
Why am I feeling so wrong?  
My head's in the game, but my heart's in the song  
She makes this feel so right  
(Speaks)  
Should I go for it?  
Better shake this, yikes!  
[Instrumental interlude]  
(Daniel:)_

 _I gotta  
Get my, get my head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
I gotta  
Get my, get my head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
Come on  
Get my, get my head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
I gotta get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) get my, (Other Boys: get'cha) head in the game  
(Other Boys: You gotta get'cha, get'cha, get'cha, get'cha head in the game)  
(All:)_

 _Whoo!_

At the exact same moment that the boys all shouted that last word, they all threw their footballs in unison towards the 'touchdown post'. The balls all went through the 'goal'.

After a few seconds of silence, Daniel turned to face the other boys. "See there?" he said. "That's how a glee club works!"

"You've got that right," said Calvin. He directed his attention towards the other boys, though with as little attention directed towards Zach as possible. "What team!?"

"New Directions!" the other boys, Daniel and surprisingly even Zach included, all shouted, surprisingly managing to instantaneously get what Calvin was referencing.

"What team!?"

"New Directions!"

"What team!?"

"New Directions!"

"Get'cha head in the game!"

"Yeah!"

In that instant, despite how most the boys still had miles to go before they let Zach in their good graces, there couldn't have been a stronger feeling of unity between them all. Even Hobbes clearly felt carried away in the mood as he barked and howled happily in synch with the cheering of his master's peers.

However, hidden deep within the upper area of the bleachers, two girls were watching the unfolding events. And the two girls in question were not at all pleased with what they were seeing. However, it wasn't so much for any reason directly involving them that they were upset with what they were seeing. Rather, they were upset because of what the things they were now seeing meant for the person who'd hired them to watch what was going on.

"Charlotte's so not going to be happy about all this," said Ashley.

Silena scoffed, and rolled her eyes. "Oh really?" she asked sarcastically. "I would never have guessed that."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in the backstage area for the McKinley High auditorium, none other than Charlotte herself was currently quite in her own little world. To elaborate, she was currently admiring herself in a mirror, acting quite haughtily enough like a model in the process. It certainly didn't help that she was currently dressed in an outfit that struck a very fine line between sexy and just plain horrifying.

The outfit in question? To start off, the main peace of the outfit was a simple skintight, mid-thigh-length, black dress. Provocative, but relatively acceptable enough. The other pieces that went with the outfit, however, stretched things a little. For one, the shoes she was now wearing with the dress were high-heeled, knee-high, boots that were modeled to somewhat resemble a dragon's feet. On her head, was a bizarre headdress designed to resemble the iconic horned hood worn by Maleficent herself in Disney's take on the 'Sleeping Beauty' story, but without the hood part so as to allow her ash blonde hair to still be seen clear as day. These details, combined with the dress, kohl eye-liner around her eyes, and the almost fan-like extensions that covered the backs of her hands while extending from serpent-styled bracelets around her wrists, made for a quite unusual fashion statement worthy perhaps of a Lady Gaga performance. But not entirely without good reason.

"Hello?! Are you listening?!"

Charlotte, jolted out of her thoughts, promptly turned away from the mirror and faced the other girls in the glee club, who were all gathered around several feet ahead of her. Diana and Susan looked annoyed, Naomi and Amber looked dumbfounded, and Bailey clearly looked amused. But most importantly, to an extent, they too were dressed in somewhat 'unique' styles. Much like Charlotte, they were all wearing dresses; except their dresses were all more conservative and reached down to their ankles instead of stopping provocatively mid-thigh. They were also wearing high heels, only these shoes were more like ballroom slippers and didn't reach up to their knees. And as it turned out, Charlotte was even the only one amongst the six girls who wasn't wearing some sort of mask alongside her specific headdress.

But of course, the fact that they were wearing dresses and ballroom slipper style shoes was not what made their outfits so unique. Rather, it was the additional décor that came with the dresses and shoes. Out of all of them, Diana's outfit seemed the most relatively simple and 'normal'. She was wearing a floor-length, forest green, sleeveless dress, had an emerald green tiara on her head, was wearing an emerald green mask worthy of a medieval masquerade ball, and was also wearing ten emerald rings, one on each finger. Susan was wearing a similar dress that was a dark violet purple color, but was also wearing some strange 'gloves' that had claw-like extensions on the backs that, combined with a set of cat-like fake fangs she was wearing in her mouth, plus a purple tiger patterned mask, gave her a noticeable cat-like motif. Naomi was wearing a crimson red dress that went down to her ankles, had what looked like a pair of red stuffed snakes wrapped around her cane, and was also wearing a headdress that made it look as if she had a pair of resplendent red deer-like antlers on her head, as well as a red mask that seemed to have small antler-shaped extensions popping of the left and right top side corners. Amber was wearing a golden yellow ankle-length dress that also came with feather-like extensions on the sleeves and a crown of feathers she was now wearing in her hair, plus a yellow feathered mask with a 'beak' extension above her nose. Finally, Bailey was wearing a simple dark blue dress that came with a dark blue opera style mask, light blue opera gloves, and a pair of blue leather whips, with one whip in each of her hands.

At the sight of the other five girls in the glee club looking expectantly at her, and also clearly having spoken to her at some point not too long ago, Charlotte gulped, took a deep breath, and hurriedly regained her composure. "Right," she said. "Sorry. Got distracted." She lifted her left index finger as if to emphasize a point. "I agree full heartedly 100%."

Naomi raised her eyebrow. "You agree full heartedly 100% that you are a closeted lesbian who hopes to someday engage in a threesome with Carrie Underwood and Katy Perry?"

The look on Charlotte's face was priceless. "What?!" she practically shrieked.

Bailey promptly started chuckling while the other four girls merely shook their heads side to side with dumbfounded looks on their faces. "Oh have no fear girl," said Bailey. "We don't actually believe that. I just pulled that little phrase clean out of my ass and spoke it out loud just to see if you were paying attention." She then gestured towards her in an almost 'ta-da' fashion. "And from your reaction, evidently you weren't."

"Yeah, no shit," said Susan. "Honestly, what Bailey just said to test how much attention you were paying just now? That's not a sentence I typically hear every day. And considering some of the things I've heard Calvin say, that's saying something."

Charlotte grumbled, narrowing her eyes and glaring at the dark-haired girl.

Diana sighed, and shook her head side to side. "Never mind that," she said. She clasped her hands together, a confident look back on her face. "Come on, we've got a group number to perform. We've all agreed upon the song and dressed appropriately to get into the spirit of said song. Let's not keep prolonging things."

The other girls nodded their heads in agreement; except Charlotte, who rolled her eyes and grumbled. "You know," she said. "We may have all agreed that we could freely choose whichever outfit we wanted, but did all of you really have to play it _this_ safe? I mean look at me." She gestured to indicate her own considerably more provocative outfit compared to that of the other girls. "At least I'm not afraid to take full advantage of my natural sexiness."

"Hate to break it to you," said Susan, not sounding sorry at all. She folded her arms across her chest, but noticeably making sure to carefully position her hands so that her claw extensions pointed harmlessly to the side without potentially giving herself any nasty cuts. "But not all girls are shameless sluts."

Charlotte glared at Susan. "I highly resent being referred to as such."

"Just because you don't like it doesn't make it any less true," said Amber.

Charlotte turned her gaze to Amber, clearly about to snap at her.

"Girls," said Diana. "Now's not the time for disputes." She gestured towards the path leading out from the backstage area to the stage proper. "Let's just get our group number over and with and finished so we can go home and talk whatever we want between each other properly."

"And who are you to tell us what to do?"

Charlotte placed her now clenched fists upon her hips in a quite haughty manner, an arrogant look of disdain now on her face as she glared in the direction of her rival. "I have no idea who you _think_ you are, but you sure as Hell ain't Coach Sylvester."

"Yeah well, this isn't the cheerios."

Diana turned around to face Diana, arms folded across her chest, clearly not in the mood to deal with the other girl's petty grievances against her this time, let alone in the proper state of mind for such tactics to have the usual effect. "This is the New Directions. And as captains, what Daniel and I say is law; doubly so if Calvin and Susan agree with us."

Charlotte scoffed. "I'm sorry," she said in a clearly mocking and not even remotely apologetic tone. "But from what I'm seeing and hearing right now, you appear to have mistaken yourself for Mr. Schuester."

"She may not be this club's director."

Diana and Susan promptly directed their attention to Susan, who proceeded to walk straight on over into position directly to Diana's left. Upon coming to a stop, the tanned skinned brunette placed her hands on her hips, but in a way that allowed her 'claws' to point outward away from her body while the backs of her hands rested against her hips, and then continued, "But she _is_ one of _two_ captains, _and_ this club's female lead. And contrary to what you seem to be thinking, such positions actually do come with authority, and sure as Hell ain't little more than figurehead token roles."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes and glared at Susan once again. But right as she was seconds away from hissing out a disparaging comment Susan's way, she was promptly forestalled yet again when Naomi and Amber stepped forward and came to a stop alongside the club's leading ladies.

"You heard her," said Amber. "Just because they're not the director doesn't mean that they're powerless. They've got plenty of authority of their own."

"Yeah," said Naomi. "Mr. Schue may be the one who casts the final vote, sets up the assignments, and acts as a judge regarding the rules of this club. But our captains," she pointed at Diana.

"And their deputies," Amber chimed in while pointing at Susan.

"Are the ones who enforce these rules and decisions," Naomi finished.

"Damn right ya'll," said Bailey. No sooner had the African American girl said this when she to stepped forward to join up with her captain, deputy lead, and two sophomore peers. "And that's doubly true in the event that Mr. Schuester ain't around directly watching us and available to immediately bring down the law himself." She made a show of looking over her shoulder and checking the area. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but I sure as Hell don't see Mr. Schuester himself directly in the area with us. Do any of you?"

The other four girls siding against Charlotte shook their heads side to side, and then they all looked back at Charlotte, who clearly looked as if she was tensed up and fighting to think up some sort of worthy response to adequately defend her position.

Diana shook her head, a blank look on her face that masterfully hid her rising amusement and smug triumph. "Face it Sharpay," said Diana. "You may be the queen amongst your precious cheerios, not to mention be treated like the supreme ruler of the entire flipping universe by all your fellow high caste members, not to mention by all those other sycophants and yes-men you know of amongst the student body around here."

"Indeed," Susan agreed. She turned her head back away from Diana to face Charlotte once more, her tiger-patterned mask and fake cat fangs now making her look especially intimidating. "But here in the New Directions, you're a follower." She gestured towards Diana. "With Diana and I as your queens." She lifted her left index finger. "Daniel and Calvin as your kings." She then pointed at Charlotte. "And Mr. Schue as our Merlin."

In that instant, as Susan continued pointing and staring at her, Charlotte gritted her teeth, now silently, and angrily, forcing herself to mentally admit that she'd once again been thoroughly beaten.

Susan raised her left index finger once more. "And as vice female lead," she said. "I second Diana's notion for us to get out on that stage and get this show on the road."

And get the show on the road they did, for the six girls, with Charlotte very reluctantly following, confidently made their way out from backstage to onstage proper, where the band members were already waiting within the orchestra pit for the signal to begin. Taking deep breathes, and with anticipatory smiles on their faces, the girls got into position. Diana, Susan, and Charlotte were standing closer to the front while Naomi, Amber, and Bailey stood a few feet or so behind them. Diana and Naomi were standing at the far left of the stage, Charlotte and Bailey at the far right, and Susan and Amber directly in the middle. The lights were on and at appropriate settings, and the stage itself had even been set up to be almost exactly the way it had been 25 years ago when the club had performed the very same song about to be performed in its first year of existence. Seconds later, with the girls ready and the band likewise prepared, the group number for the girls finally began. The performance that resulted, complete with fantastic singing, dancing, and 'fashion displays' from the girls and the band likewise masterfully joining in right at the appropriate moment with the necessary music, went something like this:

 _(Charlotte:)_

 _Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance  
(New Directions Girls:)  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance  
(Charlotte:)  
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah  
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma  
Gaga, Oh-la-la  
Want your bad romance  
(New Directions Girls:)  
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah  
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma  
Gaga, Oh-la-la  
Want your bad romance  
(Amber (with New Direction Girls):)  
I want your ugly, I want your disease  
I want your everything as long as it's free  
I want your love  
(Love, love, love)  
I want (your love)  
(Naomi:)  
I want your drama, the touch of your hand (Charlotte: Hey!)  
I want your leather studded kiss in the sand  
I want your love  
Love, love, love  
I want your love  
(New Direction Girls:)  
Love, love, love  
I want your love  
(Diana with New Directions Girls:)  
You know that I want you  
And you know that I need you  
I want it bad, bad romance  
(New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)  
I want your love and I want your revenge  
You and me could write a bad romance (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)  
I want your love and all your lover's revenge  
You and me could write a bad romance  
(Charlotte with New Directions Girls:)  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance  
(New Directions Girls:)  
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah  
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma  
Gaga, Oh-la-la  
Want your bad romance  
(Susan (with New Directions Girls):)  
I want your horror, I want your design  
'Cause you're a criminal as long as your mine  
I want your love  
(Love, love, love)  
I want (your love)  
(Susan and Diana:)  
I want your psycho, your vertigo stick (Charlotte: Hey!)  
Want you in my rear window, baby you're sick  
I want your love  
Love, love, love  
I want your love  
(New Directions Girls:)  
Love, love, love  
I want your love  
(Diana with New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)  
You know that I want you  
And you know that I need you ('Cause I'm a freak, baby!)  
I want it bad, bad romance  
(New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)  
I want your love and I want your revenge  
You and me could write a bad romance (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)  
I want your love and all your lover's revenge  
You and me could write a bad romance  
(Charlotte with New Directions Girls:)  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance  
(New Directions Girls:)  
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah  
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma  
Gaga, Oh-la-la  
Want your bad romance  
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah  
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma  
Gaga, Oh-la-la  
Want your bad romance  
(Diana:)  
Walk, walk fashion baby  
Work it move that thing crazy  
(Susan with Diana:)  
Walk, walk fashion baby  
Work it move that thing crazy  
(Naomi with Susan and Diana:)  
Walk, walk fashion baby  
Work it move that thing crazy  
(Amber with Susan, Diana and Naomi:)  
Walk, walk passion baby  
Work it, I'm a freak baby  
(Bailey (Charlotte with New Directions Girls):)  
I want your love and I want your revenge  
I want your love, I don't wanna be friends  
Je veux ton amour et je veux ta revanche  
Je veux ton amour, I don't wanna be friends (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)  
No, I don't wanna be friends (Caught in a bad romance)  
I don't wanna be friends (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)  
Want your bad romance (Caught in a bad romance)  
Want your bad romance  
(Bailey with Susan and New Directions Girls (Charlotte):)  
I want your love and I want your revenge  
You and me could write a bad romance (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)  
I want your love and all your lover's revenge  
You and me could write a bad romance  
(Charlotte with New Directions Girls (Bailey):)  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh (Want your bad romance)  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance (Want your bad romance)  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh (Want your bad romance)  
Oh-oh-oh  
Caught in a bad romance  
(New Directions Girls:)  
Rah-rah, ah-ah-ah  
Ro-ma, Ro-ma-ma  
Gaga, Oh-la-la  
(Charlotte:)  
Want your bad romance_

All of three seconds passed before the band started applauding. To the six girls who'd been performing, however, it seemed much longer. Nonetheless, even Charlotte couldn't help but smile at the applause, not to mention at the fact that they'd actually had quite a bit of fun performing.

When the band finally stopped applauding, the six girls smiled, and nodded their heads up and down. "Thank you very much," said Diana. "Your work is much appreciated."

Susan nodded her head in agreement. "You're free to go," said the brunette.

The band members smiled, and promptly started packing up to leave the auditorium and go home.

The girls all turned to look at each other. "You heard Susan," said Diana. "Let's get out of these costumes and report to Mr. Schuester so we can go home. Remember everyone, we've all agreed that we'll be meeting at my house for the second part of today's mandatory bonding."

. . . . .

An hour and a half later, all the boys amongst the gleeks, with the very real exception of Zach, were gathered around in the living room of the Taymor household. To further elaborate, they were currently having a good time conversing, laughing, and likewise having a good time bonding together . . . and all while still finding time to work on their homework in the process. And they were all very happy about it to.

"I'm telling you guys," said Calvin. "When it comes to _How to Train Your Dragon_ , I'm not ashamed at all to admit that this is a rare case in which the movies are actually better than the books."

"You got that right," said Cody. "Honestly guys, the very first book in that series feels like such a letdown compared to the first movie. And then the later books in the series ended up getting too dark!"

"You can say that again." Raj nodded his head. "On the bright side, at least we got some awesome movies inspired by those books, and their departures from the source material were at least ones that enhanced the movies and made the stories better . . . unlike with _Dragonball Evolution_."

"Oh, do _not_ even mention that monstrosity," said Dunlap. He shook his head side to side, snarling and narrowing his red eyes. "I don't know _what_ the idiots who made that movie were thinking, but they got everything wrong. That movie is a disgrace to Dragon Ball, it's fans, and everything great about the story that it stands for."

"You said it pal," said Darren. "Honestly, the only good thing that came from _that_ movie is that Toriyama finally shed his usual apathy and got more directly involved with the anime people. And as a result, we got the awesomeness that is Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', and Dragon Ball Super; all thanks to Akira flipping Toriyama himself. Talk about a silver lining!"

"Amen," said the five subordinate gleek boys in unison. They turned their heads to face Daniel.

"What do you say Daniel?" said Calvin.

Daniel smiled and shook his head side to side. "Well honestly, as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't really have all that much of an interest in Dragon Ball until I ended up watching my cousins' copy of the Evolution DVD. And after that, through a good bit of research and reading up on the source material, let's just say that I was able to see the light and realize just how screwed up Evolution actually was compared to the masterpiece that quote on quote 'inspired' it."

"Well said," said Dunlap and Darren.

"No kidding," said Calvin. He rolled his eyes. "That's Fox for you. Sometimes it seems like they just can't do anything right. I mean look at them, _X-Men Origins: Wolverine_ , their Fantastic Four movies, Dragonball Evolution, that Ben Affleck _Daredevil_ movie and Jennifer Garner's horrendous _Elektra_ movie, _Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter_ , _The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_ , not to mention _Eragon_ and those two Percy Jackson movies . . ."

The autistic boy winced, clenched his eyes shut, gritted his teeth, and then face-palmed, sighing heavily. "Oh, dear God, how they disgraced the Inheritance Cycle and the Percy Jackson series with those movies . . . dear God, why?" He lowered his palm, his eyes open once more and revealing a half irritated and half saddened look. "Look guys, the point is, with all those movies they've made that have either screwed up, disgraced valuable source material, _or_ clearly been made, or even _suggested_ , while high on marijuana, one can't help but wonder whether or not they're truly worthy of movie goer faith. Heck, they can't even give flipping _News_ that can be taken seriously!"

"Well look on the bright side," said Daniel. "At least we've got all the other X-Men films and TV shows from them that haven't been atrocities like _Origins_ and _Last Stand_. Not to mention James Cameron's _Titanic_ and _Avatar_ movies; plus, the _Ice Age_ franchise. And wait till you hear my dad give you an earful about all the joys of _Highlander_ , _Braveheart_ , and _Tora! Tora! Tora!_ "

Calvin thought to himself. "That is true."

"And not just those either," said Dunlap. "It was also thanks to their work that we got the first six Star Wars films, _The Princess Bride_ , and the _Planet of the Apes_ series; not to mention _Night at the Museum_."

"You got that right," Darren agreed. "And don't forget _Mr. and Mrs. Smith_ , _The Martian_ , the _Independence Day_ series, _Fight Club_ , _Fault in our Stars_ , and the _Kingsmen_ series! Do _not_ forget the _Kingsmen_ series!"

"Oh we won't forget those," said Cody. "Let alone _Alien_ , _Predator_ , the _Die Hard_ films, _Moulin Rouge_ , and _Dude, Where's my Car?_ "

"And let's not forget," said Raj, "the wonders that are _Life of Pi_ and _12 Years a Slave_."

"Indeed," said Daniel, now feeling even happier. "And as for TV, they have made the world a pretty happy place with _X-Files_ , _Malcolm in the Middle_ , and Buffy!" He pointed his finger at Calvin. "You can't forget Buffy!"

Raj gaped at Daniel in a mixture of surprise and confusion. "You've watched Buffy?"

"Sure have," said Daniel. "Not ashamed of it either. There's plenty of stuff in there for girls and guys to like."

"That's certainly true," said Calvin.

"Oh yeah," said Dunlap.

"Such is the skill of the mighty Joss Whedon," said Darren.

"Hate to agree with them," said Cody, a smug grin on his face indicating that he was far from sorry. "But they sure as Hell are right."

"Indeed," said Daniel. He looked back at Raj. "And even if that weren't the case, it would probably still be a guilty pleasure of mine at least thanks to how it was only thanks to Diana and how much _she_ enjoys that series that I even heard of it, let alone watched it, in the first place."

Raj thought to himself. "I suppose you've got some good points there," the Indian American admitted.

"Yeah that's right," said the other boys.

"Sounds like you're all having fun in there."

Daniel turned his head in the direction of the kitchen, where his mother currently was. "You've guessed correctly mom."

"Darn right we are Mrs. Taymor," said Calvin, his thumb raised to emphasize how serious and genuine he was in his answer. "Trust me, that Loathello that your son considers his so called best friend ain't the only guy he can have fun hanging around with here. Let alone at school or anywhere else for that matter."

Hobbes barked thrice in apparent agreement with his master.

"Well let me know if you guys need anything," Mrs. Taymor said from the kitchen, where she just happened to be in the midst of baking cookies to 'celebrate Daniel's making so many new friends this year'. "And if possible, feel free to stick around long enough to have a cookie or two."

"Will do," said Daniel and all five of his newly established friends. They all looked at each other and away from the direction of the kitchen.

Dunlap chuckled, and rubbed his stomach. "Oh boy," said the albino boy. "I'm looking forward to having a taste of those cookies already."

"I know how you feel pal," Darren agreed.

The other boys were likewise quick to agree. Calvin even went so far as to grin like a wolf and lick his chops hungrily. Clearly, he was looking forward quite strongly to tasting the cookies himself.

The phone on the living room table they were sitting around suddenly started ringing, jolting the boys out of their anticipation of the upcoming snack. They all directed their gaze at the phone. Daniel, however, was able to get a direct look at the caller ID thanks to where he was positioned, and his narrowing eyes upon recognizing the number was enough to clue the other boys in on him both having an idea who was calling, and _not_ being pleased with the information.

"Who's calling?" said Mrs. Taymor. "Is it someone important?"

"No," said Daniel. "No need to worry. It's just Charlotte. You can stay in the kitchen and keep worrying about the cookies."

"Charlotte?" said Mrs. Taymor. "You mean that witch who keeps borderline stalking you around school and trying to go out of her way to make Diana cry and force you to be her boyfriend?"

"Yep," said Daniel, his teeth gritting into a silent snarl at the quite accurate description.

"Well in that case," said Mrs. Taymor. "Carry on, and please do ignore that call."

"Don't you worry mom," said Daniel as he continued glaring at the phone. "That won't be a problem at all."

After about another few seconds, the phone finally went to voice mail. And soon after that, Charlotte's voice came out of the phone as the now clearly annoyed McKinley High head cheerio started leaving a message.

"Hello Daniel," said Charlotte, her tight voice and the fact that she hadn't referred to Daniel by some sickening pet name or other making it crystal clear to Daniel and the other boys that she was now quite irritated indeed. "This is Charlotte speaking. In case you were wondering, this is the third time I've tried to call you this afternoon. And clearly, since you seem to be quite insistent on denying my calls on your cell phone within the first 3 seconds of it ringing with my attempts at calling you there, I have no other choice but to try to contact you by your house phone. So with how needlessly awkward and difficult you've now just made this whole business, how about you be a gentleman, answer the phone like a proper good boy, and talk with me?"

Daniel and the other boys present in the Taymor household's living room glared at the phone. "She says _I'm_ the one making this difficult and awkward?" Daniel thought to himself. "Excuse me, but _you're_ the one who's even now insisting on continuing your brainless and inane crusade towards me despite how much I've made it clear again and again that I'm not interested." The other boys were likewise irritated. Calvin, however, seemed particularly aggravated by the current situation, as he had gone so far as to clench his fists and lean forward closely towards the phone while Daniel and the other boys had been content to just stay positioned as they were and glare at the phone at a 'safe distance'. Hobbes, naturally, was also leaning his head forward towards the phone from his respective position on the floor to the right of the arm chair Calvin was sitting in, his teeth bared in a silent snarl and his eyes narrowed tensely.

"I know you're there Daniel," Charlotte's voice popped out from the phone. "Pick up the phone and let me and you have our much deserved and needed chat."

Calvin gritted his teeth, emitting a very unnervingly realistic wolf-like snarl. Daniel and the other boys promptly turned their heads away from the phone to direct their attention towards the autistic boy, their earlier glares now replaced with clear looks of unnerved concern. Even Hobbes turned his attention to his master, now clearly sensing that his master was now getting particularly ticked off in this particular situation.

Charlotte's voice rang out from the phone yet again. "PICK UP THE PHONE!"

. . . . .

Much to Charlotte's surprise, her cellphone suddenly indicated that her call had been answered all of one second after she shouted out this last demand . . . only for her to then shriek and reflexively toss her cellphone into the air when an impossibly lifelike tyrannosaurus-rex-like roar erupted from her cellphone. Diana and the other gleek girls also jolted back in shock from the quite unexpected turn of events, eyes widened and hearts thumping rapidly in their chests from shock and fright. Charlotte's cellphone plopped down upon the center of the floor the girls were seated in a circle around, the ear-splitting roar still spouting out of it for a few seconds before it suddenly ceased, followed by the phone indicating that whoever had answered the phone had now ended the call.

For another few seconds, the six girls remained gaping and reared back in fright in their circle around Charlotte's cellphone while seated on the floor at the base of Diana's bed. Then, one by one, they all got their breath back and their hearts under control. Susan even went so far as to facepalm, having only taken seconds to put two and two together and figure out who had clearly been responsible for answering the phone and giving the quite unexpected roaring response. "Good grief, Calvin," she thought. The other girls, likewise, soon managed to figure out just who had responded to Charlotte's 3rd attempt to call Daniel that afternoon.

"What was that?"

At the sound of her mother's call, Diana turned her head towards the open door to her bedroom and hurriedly yelled, "Nothing mom, just Calvin answering the phone."

"Susan's friend, Calvin?" Mrs. Eberhart responded from back downstairs. "I thought he was at Daniel's."

"He is," said Susan. She then directed an annoyed glare at Charlotte. "Charlotte was trying to call Daniel again, but this time by his house number. As it turned out, not only did her call get answered this time, but it was answered by Calvin."

After a few seconds pause, Mrs. Eberhart finally responded. "Oh, I see," she said. "But nonetheless, try to keep it down up there."

"We'll try," said Diana.

Charlotte glared at Diana, but wisely held her tongue. After all, she smart enough at least to know that it would be a bad idea to try to antagonize Diana right there in her own house, not to mention with Diana's mom home.

A few minutes later, with Charlotte still glowering and grumbling silently to herself, Diana and the other girls resumed their chat they'd been having before Charlotte had made her 3rd attempt to call Daniel. From what little she managed to hear, it was becoming increasingly clear that they'd now switched from the previous topic to the matter of fashion. To be more precise, Diana, Susan, and the two sophomores now appeared to be under the impression that, with a few modifications, the very same dresses they'd worn during the group number back at school earlier that afternoon would potentially make good outfits for them to wear at future formal events. Perhaps maybe even at Prom if they were lucky enough to attend.

For the most part, however, Charlotte was largely not entirely paying that much attention. At the current moment, the majority of her was both angrily stewing and trying her best to hurriedly think up something new to try out in her efforts at her quest. For as had now been quite strongly implied with Zach's recent actions, her original idea from earlier that week was clearly not going to go anywhere. But at the same time, a small part of her just couldn't help but wonder just how things were going for Zach himself at that moment.

. . . . .

About several minutes before the other boys and girls from the current New Directions roster arrived at their respective chosen meeting grounds to continue their bonding time, Zach arrived at home. And now, he was standing somberly at his door step. He sighed, and hung his head. He knew full well what would be waiting for him behind the front door of his house; and he was not looking forward to it at all.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes clenched shut as well. While part of him knew full well that he'd only brought the current upcoming unpleasantness entirely upon himself and just wanted to get it all over with and out of the way as soon as possible, the other part of him wanted to do nothing more than to prolong it even a tiny second longer. Then his more guilty and reasonable side won out, and he hung his head, sighing resignedly. "Here goes," he thought to himself. With another deep breath, followed by a guilty and resigned exhale, he grabbed the door know, turned it, and entered his house.

"I'm home."

For about a minute, Zach stood in the open doorway to his house, waiting for a response. He raised his eyebrow after noticing how much time had passed without any response. "Mom?" he said. "Dad? Are you here? I'm home."

"We're in here son."

At the sound of his mother's voice coming from the living room, Zach sighed half in relief and half in dread. "No turning back now," he thought to himself.

Zach's father then chimed in. "Shut the door, and come here."

Zach took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Here goes nothing," he thought to himself. He closed the door to his house and then marched resolutely over to where his parents were waiting for him in the living room. At the sight of the stern glares being directed at him, he mentally cringed, but outwardly remained stoic and resignedly accepting. He came to a stop in the very center of the living room, facing the armchair his father was sitting in and his mother was standing next to from the right.

"Your father and I received a phone call earlier this afternoon from your teacher and glee club director, Mr. Schuester," said Mrs. Skinner, having decided to break the silence herself after a few minutes of waiting.

"Indeed," Mr. Skinner agreed. "And through that phone call, some very intriguing news has come to our attention."

For a moment, silence hung in the air. Then Zach finally decided that maybe it would be necessary for him to speak. "Noted."

"According to Mr. Schuester," said Mrs. Skinner, "for the last two days, you've been going out of your way to harass, antagonize, and outright bully the majority of your peers within the glee club."

"And not only that," said Mr. Skinner, "but you also not only harassed one girl in particular both days to the point that you apparently went so far as to attempt to rape her, but you also went so far yesterday as to attempt to _murder_ a boy who was brave and noble enough to come to that girl's defense."

Zach winced again, this time physically as well as mentally. "Noted," he repeated.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

Zach briefly paused upon hearing his father ask this. Then he hung his head. "No," he admitted. "It's not." He looked back up at his parents. "And before you ask, yes, that news you heard today from Mr. Schuester on the phone? It's true." At this point, he saw no point in trying to deny it.

"So you admit," Mr. Skinner began, "that over the course of the past two days, and potentially a tiny bit of today, you have gone above and beyond your usual level of irresponsibility and rebelliousness, attempted, and very nearly _succeeded_ , in violating your own moral code that you claimed to be so proud of two days ago at breakfast, _and_ effectively proven me 100% right in worrying about how things would turn out if you continued to live your life in the way you've been doing for the last few years?"

Zach opened his mouth, briefly on the verge of trying to defend against this claim from his father. But then he paused, winced, and then sighed with his head hung. "Yes," he admitted. "I do." He looked back up at his parents, who were now glaring at him even more unpleasantly than before. "I admit that what I've done the last few days was wrong. I admit that you were right to be worried about me and how I was living my life dad." He hung his head once more. "And I will accept whatever punishment you see fit."

"You are absolutely certain of this?"

Zach nodded his head. "Yes mom, I am."

"Good."

Mrs. Skinner turned her head to face her husband, who turned his own head to face her. A silent message passed between them, and then they turned their heads to face their son once more. Mr. Skinner stretched his hand forwards. "Your keys," said Mr. Skinner. "Now."

Zach dug into his pocket, not even bothering to try to rebel against this order, drew out his car keys, and tossed them over to his father. Mr. Skinner caught the keys in his hand and then slipped them into his own pants pocket. He pointed his finger at Zach, a stern and pokerfaced glare on his face.

"You will continue to go to school," said Mr. Skinner. "There ain't no way you're getting out of attending school early that easily. But until your punishment time is over, your mother and I will be responsible for making sure you get there and back home." He then lifted his finger. "And before you comment on how lenient that sounds, there is more." He pointed his finger back at Zach once more. "Strictly aside from school, and I do mean _strictly aside from school_ , you are not allowed to leave the house for the remainder of this week and the entirety of next month."

For a moment, Zach's heart stopped and he gaped at his father in stunned shock. Then he gulped, realizing that it was quite frankly a more than fair punishment, and he hung his head. "I see."

"And what's more," Mr. Skinner continued. "You shall also be banned from video games, doing anything on the computer that isn't in any way related to your school work, and from watching TV without supervision for the same amount of time. Furthermore, you shall not be allowed to visit or speak to Daniel, Diana, or any of your other peers from school or the glee club unless they either visit here at our house or you contact them on the phone. Again, for the exact same amount of time as the rest of your punishment."

Zach thought to himself, and then nodded. "Understood."

"Good." Mr. Skinner extended his hand forward once again. "Your cellphone, if you'd please."

Zach drew out his cellphone and tossed it over to his dad. His father caught it just as effortlessly as he had Zach's car keys. "Good boy," said Mr. Skinner. "Tomorrow, once your mother and I have had time to place a block on all your contacts apart from us and the emergency contact line, you shall get it back."

"Understood," said Zach.

"Good," said Mr. Skinner. He pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "With that out of the way, if there's any homework you need to work on tonight, I'd recommend you get started on it right now, in the kitchen area. If you have it all done before dinner, then just maybe we'll let you watch The Wire with us on Netflix. If not, then you'll just simply have to wait and catch up alongside us at a later date. Understood?"

"Yes," said Zach.

"Good," said Mrs. Skinner. She pointed at the kitchen. "Get to work."

"Yes mom," said Zach. He turned to face the kitchen, and promptly made his way there to get started on his homework.

 **And just like that, another chapter finished and posted! Once again, I hope you all read and enjoy it after the latest long wait I've put you all through. For that matter, once again, a minimum of 1 review (maybe 2 if I'm lucky) is required (though I do also strongly encourage that everyone who reads it and is able to leave feedback please leave feedback) in order for me to post the newest chapter upon its completion. While the next chapter hopefully won't take as long, we'd still best not hold our breaths right? That being said, I especially hope you enjoyed the song choices and performances for this chapter. For that matter, I also hope you like the different approaches I took in just how swiftly the boys and girls took to accepting the authorities and positions of Daniel and Diana as captains. Not to mention I hope you like how Zach has once again been called out on his actions (this time by both Daniel, AND his own parents). The way I see it, I thought it would be nice to have Daniel have to really step up and prove how confident and willing he was to be a leader in order to finally convince the other boys that his position and authority as captain and male lead is to be taken seriously (especially in the face of Zach's behavior), while the girls wouldn't necessarily need to go through any trouble aside from Charlotte's usual antics in order to unite and show their support and loyalty to Diana as their captain and female lead. For that matter, I do also hope that Zach has been appropriately punished for his crimes and that all his experiences so far will be enough to set him on the path to being the more lovable person we all know and love from the main GWAF story. And of course, I do hope you like all the bonding that the gleeks all went through both on and off school grounds in this chapter. And heck, in regards to the boys' conversation at Daniel's house, feel free to consider the first half of their talk about Fox to be equal parts 'take that' and equal parts 'self deprecation' (after all Fox did help to produce and distribute GLEE). That being said, once again, hope you enjoyed, and am looking forward to your feedback.**

 **Coming up Next: It's one Charlotte Thornton's 16th birthday, and she is quite happy and eager to make the most out of it the very next day in the Glee world. And she is not in the mood to let anything, including a brief morning encounter with Zach Skinner ruin her mood.**


	15. Birthday

**Hey ya'll! Miss me? Once again, I apologize for taking so long. In all seriousness, I had actually hoped to have this new chapter posted no later than June 12 this very year/month. But unfortunately, things got too busy that day for me to do the finishing touches I needed. And then I ended up on vacation in Cambodia and Vietnam under circumstances where I had neither the time nor resources to do any fanfiction-based work. Got home from that vacation this past Sunday, but have only NOW finally gotten this chapter done! Oh well, such is life; always throwing curve balls every now and then. That being said though, here's me hoping that you enjoy this chapter and find it worth the long wait. What's happening in this chapter, you might ask? Well for one, it's one Charlotte Thornton's 16th birthday, and she's in a quite appropriately happy mood. And she certainly ain't planning on letting anything or anyone, including a chance morning encounter with one Zach Skinner, ruin her special day. And with all that said and done, here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy! ^_^**

 **A/N: I shall remind ya'll once more; I do not own Glee. And I do not own the song used in this chapter either. All I own are my OCs. That being said, onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 15:**

 **Birthday**

Charlotte Thornton was feeling quite happy and optimistic that Thursday morning on August 28, 2035. Sure, she was still miles away from making any progress in her efforts at her desired goals, was still stuck in the glee club with her rival and a large number of other of her considered social inferiors, _and_ her original plan from earlier that week was now hardly likely to go anywhere. Not to mention the fact that, as she'd been informed by Silena and Ashley the previous day through text, Daniel had only continued to make progress in befriending and bonding with the other boys in the glee club by leaps and bounds, which could logically mean that it wouldn't be long at all before he managed to likewise befriend all of the other girls in the club as well. Yet despite all that, she still felt quite happy this morning and confident that today would be a great day for her. Why? The answer was simple. Today was her birthday. As of today, she was officially 16-years old. And while her official celebration of the fact would have to wait until the weekend, she was still quite keen to make the most out of her officially turning 16 that day to make it feel just as much of a celebration as the actual celebration she would have with her family that weekend.

She smiled as she calmly walked through the surprisingly empty hallways of McKinley High. She had to admit, sometimes she felt almost entirely at peace in moments where she could truly have peace and quiet. After all, in moments like that, it was considerably easier for her to have time to think and reflect. And much to her surprise, at least in this moment, she actually _did_ have a lot to be happy about despite the more negative elements that were currently stacked against her.

For starters, there was her family to consider. Her mother absolutely loved her, of that there was _no_ doubt; and Charlotte loved her mother very much. And despite how irritating she found it that her father was so stubbornly against her efforts at fulfilling her current dreams and plans regarding Daniel, a part of her knew full well that he was just trying his best to look out for her wellbeing, and she loved him nonetheless just as much as she loved her mother. And of course, there was Tamara. A wide smile, complete with her eyes widened and gleaming in joy, came on her face as she thought of her beloved little sister. Much like was the case with her parents, she loved Tamara quite a lot, and wouldn't trade her for the world. Likewise, she knew full well that Tamara had the exact same almost worship level love and respect for her big sister that all younger siblings seemed to possess to a degree for their older siblings. All in all, Charlotte truly did have a loving family that would hopefully remain in her life regardless of whether she ever succeeded in getting Daniel or any other man in her life, not that she was going to give up on getting Daniel or finding a worthy replacement man just yet.

Furthermore, she was also quite certain that she had several genuine good friends amongst her fellow cheerios at least, if not amongst all the other people she associated with. She at least had a somewhat better standing with senior member Kimberly, Ashley's younger sister Brooke, and Brooke's friend Mary, who also happened to be the younger cousin of Ashley's boyfriend, than she did with the majority of her subordinate cheerios. Then there were 2nd and 3rd in command to consider. Granted, she couldn't be entirely certain just how much either of them hoped to someday take her place as head cheerio, even if it meant somehow overthrowing her and seizing the throne for themselves if necessary. But nonetheless, she was certain that they nonetheless, to an extent, truly considered a friend. And if Silena herself didn't truly view her as a friend, then surely Ashley did. After all, Ashley had proven time and time again to be something of a nice girl, and Charlotte had no reason to believe that Ashley would have been pretending to be nice.

She sighed in content, and nodded her head. Sure she had plenty of stuff to be unhappy about. But at the same time, she still had some positive elements in her life. And besides, today was her birthday, and her sweet 16 no less. Surely today would be a happy day.

She opened her eyes, a wide smile on her mouth as she thought of just what to do at that moment. She was happy, there was no one around to see her potentially embarrass herself, and it was her birthday. What better moment for her to devote to singing a song for her own pleasure? And even better, she knew just the song to sing. And besides, she could hardly embarrass herself through singing if the performance was occurring strictly in her mind, right? She closed her eyes, and snapped her fingers. Seconds later, with the appropriate music playing in her mind, she proceeded to imagine herself singing her heart out. What could she say? She just felt _that_ happy. How did the resulting performance unfold you might ask? Well, to put it simply, it went something like this:

 _(Scene Break: Girls' Locker Room)_

 _I heard you're feeling nothing's going right  
Why don't you let me stop by?  
The clock is ticking, running out of time  
So we should party all night  
(Scene Break: Charlotte running and dancing down the hall)  
So cover your eyes,  
I have a surprise  
I hope you got a healthy appetite  
If you wanna dance,  
If you want it all  
You know that I'm the girl that you should call  
(Scene Break: Cheerio Practice)  
Boy, when you're with me  
I'll give you a taste  
Make it like your birthday every day  
I know you like it sweet  
So you can have your cake  
Give you something good to celebrate  
So make a wish  
I'll make it like your birthday every day  
I'll be your gift  
Give you something good to celebrate  
(Scene Break: Auditorium, on stage, in between Sue's confetti cannons)  
Pop your confetti  
Pop your Pérignon  
So hot and heavy  
'Til dawn_

 _(Scene Break: Gym, sitting in midair upon prom night disco ball)  
I got you spinning  
Like a disco ball  
All night they're playing  
Your song  
(Scene Break: Cafeteria Courtyard, alongside Silena and Ashley)  
We're living the life  
We're doing it right  
You're never gonna be unsatisfied  
If you wanna dance  
If you want it all  
You know that I'm the girl that you should call  
(Scene Break: Cheerio Practice)  
Boy, when you're with me  
I'll give you a taste  
Make it like your birthday every day  
I know you like it sweet  
So you can have your cake  
Give you something good to celebrate  
So make a wish  
I'll make it like your birthday every day  
I'll be your gift  
Give you something good to celebrate  
(Scene Break: Gymnasium, full on party-kind of environment, and jam packed with various students in various Halloween-Level costumes, and with Charlotte standing proudly in the center with her hands on her hips, smile on her face, and dressed fully in yesterday's 'Gaga outfit' while Silena and Ashley stand to either side of her in their cheerio outfits)  
Happy birthday  
So let me get you in your birthday suit  
It's time to bring out the big balloons  
So let me get you in your birthday suit  
It's time to bring out the big, big, big, big, big, big balloons  
Boy, when you're with me  
I'll give you a taste  
Make it like your birthday every day  
I know you like it sweet  
So you can have your cake  
Give you something good to celebrate  
Boy, when you're with me  
I'll give you a taste  
Make it like your birthday every day  
I know you like it sweet  
So you can have your cake  
Give you something good to celebrate  
So make a wish  
I'll make it like your birthday every day  
I'll be your gift  
Give you something good to celebrate  
Happy birthday_

 _(Scene Break: Charlotte leaning against her locker with eyes closed and smile on her face)_

No sooner had the mental music for her song finally ended when Charlotte opened her eyes, smile still on her face. "Yep," she thought to herself. "Today will be a fantastic day." And as far as she could tell at that moment, today would indeed be a fantastic day. As far as she was concerned, nothing would prevent her from having an at least somewhat happy day on her birthday, and on her sweet sixteen no less. Nothing. No one. Not. Even . . .

"Good morning Charlotte."

. . . . .

Zach mentally winced when he saw Charlotte abruptly tense up at the sound of his voice. He'd already had a feeling that he'd have a difficult time trying to talk to her at this moment, but the fact that she'd just now reacted the way she had was hardly encouraging. Then she turned her head, and the sight of the glare on her face only confirmed Zach's suspicions that she was indeed not happy to see or hear him right now.

Mentally steeling himself, he took a deep breath, and then said, "Look Charlotte, I get that you're probably not all that happy to see me right now . . ."

"Wow," Charlotte grumbled. "What gave it away?"

"I know this looks bad," said Zach. "Honest, I do."

"Good," said Charlotte. She pointed in the direction behind Zach. "Now go."

"Charlotte, please," said Zach.

"I said go," said Charlotte. She folded her arms across her chest, her blue eyes icy with suspicion and hatred. "I've now told you twice in a row to leave me alone, and you still haven't left. Does that mean you're going to attempt to force yourself on me just like you tried to do with my rival's right-hand woman? I'll have you know that I am not someone you want to try to pull that kind of idiocy against. And that's without considering you're already at risk of expulsion and imprisonment enough as it is."

Zach winced. "Look, I'm sorry. . ."

"That's good," said Charlotte, now getting even more annoyed. She pointed towards the direction immediately behind Zach once more, this time more forcefully and insistent. "But it's gonna take more than a single little apology to get yourself in my graces, let alone in anyone else's. Now go away, before I have to get you in even more hot water then you're already in."

"Charlotte, I'm trying to explain here . . ."

"What's there to explain?"

Charlotte folded her arms across her chest once more, her face remaining fixed in an icy glare. "Within a mere two days, you've gone from simple bad boy to all around thug. You've been going to needless extremes, passed off heavily charged and trigger heavy elements as jokes, and gone so far as to attempt to commit rape _and_ murder. We all thought you were a decent guy; but turns out, we were wrong. You're not a decent guy. You're a thug, a monster, and a criminal. That's the truth. Plain and simple. No further explanation needed." She turned around and started walking away from Zach. "And most importantly, you're simply no longer the type of person I deserve to associate with, assuming you even were such a person in the first place."

Zach glared, now understandably angered at the direction things had now taken. "Oh, that's rich coming from you!" He pointed his right finger accusingly at Charlotte. "You're the one who told me three days ago that quite a large number of girls, you yourself included, are attracted to bad boys!" He lifted his finger for emphasis. "And I know full well both how many other bad boys amongst this school's students, _and_ the names of every single one of your previous bedding partners! What makes me so unworthy of associating with you compared to them?!"

Charlotte stopped walking, slowly turned her head with her eyes narrowed to face Zach, and then turned the rest of her body around and walked slowly back up to Zach.

"You're right," Charlotte hissed. "I did tell you those things just this Monday. Yes, there are indeed a respectable number of girls who are attracted to bad boys." She folded her arms across her chest. "And yes, I am indeed one such girl." She pointed her finger, pressing it firmly against Zach's chest. "But let me tell you _this_ ," she snarled. "Just because you're _attracted_ to someone doesn't mean that you _love_ that person. There's a difference."

She lifted her finger. "And for that matter, there's no guarantee that the type of person you get attracted to and the type of person you fall in love with will even be the same type of person! I mean hey, just because I tend to get attracted to bad boys doesn't mean that I won't necessarily end up falling in love with and marrying a perfectly nice guy instead!"

"And how on Earth could something like _that_ be possible!?" Zach yelled, too angry to rationally think about what Charlotte had said and accept the valid point she'd made. "Loving and marrying someone that's not even the type you're naturally attracted to? Or in any other way fundamentally different from you? That's counterintuitive!"

"Ever heard of 'opposites attract'?"

Charlotte folded her arms back across her chest. "Because God knows how there's plenty of examples both in fiction and reality that fulfill that sentiment perfectly fine. And like I said, there's a world of difference between attraction and love. And just as there are many girls who are end up falling for boys for their bad boy traits, there are also plenty of girls out there who fall for boys for their good man traits. Jean Gray said it best." She nodded her head. "The bad boy is the one that girls _flirt_ with and take home strictly to piss off their daddies. The good man, however, is the one that they fall in love with, marry, and spend the rest of their life with. And in this equation, I hate to say it, but even without all the stuff you've done the last few days to make yourself poison in the eyes of the McKinley High student body's female population, the simple fact is that you're the bad boy in this equation. I'm Jean Gray. You're Wolverine." She let a dreamy smile come on her face. "And if I'm lucky, good ol' Danny Boy, will be my Cyclops."

Zach narrowed his eyes, just barely keeping himself from flat out snarling in rage.

"But even without all that in mind," Charlotte continued. "The simple fact is that, even with all the bad boys I've been attracted to and done the deed with over the last few years of my life, all of _those_ boys are at least lovable rogues that still just have enough good and decency in them to be deserving of any affection. Contrary to what you seem to think, there's a difference between being a lovable rogue, and being a criminal." She pointed her finger, glare on her face once more. "And you're being a criminal," she hissed.

Zach raised his eyebrow. "Oh really?" He snorted, and folded his arms across his chest while turning his head away arrogantly. "Well by all means then, do elaborate on what makes me a, quote unquote, 'criminal', instead of a lovable rogue. Go ahead; tell me! What is it about me that makes me so much worse, let alone different, than any of those 'lovable rogues' you're so fond of. Because I'd certainly like to know."

As he said this, one could easily tell from his tone that he was being sarcastic. When Zach directed his eyes back towards Charlotte however, it seemed from the expression that had now come on her face that she was taking his sarcastic request dead seriously.

"You want me to elaborate?" she asked.

Zach raised his eyebrow, a smug grin coming on his face. "You bet."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "You really want me to elaborate?"

At the sound of the now considerably less welcoming tone that Charlotte's voice had taken, Zach's confident look faltered somewhat. "S . . . sure," he managed to say, but with a noticeable pause.

Charlotte lowered her arms to her sides, clenching her fists in the process. "You really, honest to god, want me to elaborate?"

At that point, all trace of his earlier confidence faded from Zach's face and body, and he noticeably tensed up and gritted his teeth in a wince while leaning backward in a cringe-like fashion. "Yes," he managed to say nervously.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes further. "Fine," she snarled spitefully. "I will."

She lifted her finger. "For starters, with the exception of the occasional slushy every now and then, or in the event of 'heat of the moment' type events like food fights in which everyone is fair game, only the most reprehensible, amoral, and irredeemable of bullies around here so much as dare _think_ of breaking the unspoken rule of flat out bullying the school 'comedian' for no reason than for the fun of it. And just this Monday, you broke that very rule with that absolutely humiliating stuff you did to Raj.

"Secondly, the type of bad boys I'm attracted to? They don't stoop so low as to be cruel enough to do things to other students that either A: force the victims into not having a fair chance, B: permanently damage them, or C: could likewise easily prove outright _dangerous_ to their health, if not _lethal_. To elaborate, none of the bad boys I actively am willing to associate with would go so far as to steal someone's glasses, take advantage of a blind person by leaving obstacles that they will have absolutely zero chance of avoiding strictly with the intention of them falling victim to said obstacles, sabotage prosthetics or any other devices a person wouldn't be able to move or similarly function properly without, _or_ splash _acid_ in a person's eyes! And those are just the examples that I already know, for a _fact_ , that you've actually done!"

"Charlotte," Zach began shakily, both clearly aware of the valid points Charlotte had just brought up and not at all pleased with the fact that he'd indeed done those things she'd just said to differentiate him from her preferred type of bad boy.

"Thirdly," Charlotte continued. "The bad boys I prefer to associate with respect girls, care about their wishes and feelings, and don't go so far as to flat out harass them. Take Bailey for example. I know full well about how you were harassing her over the phone earlier this week. And to put it simply, harassment like that against a girl, regardless of what your screwed-up mind may think, is not funny, regardless of whether it's in person, or on the phone. And that one sophomore girl you pretended to be a stalking creeper towards two days ago? Behavior that, need I add, you passed off as a flipping _joke_ no less?"

Charlotte took a deep breath, clenching her fists in rage. "I don't know what you were thinking; but behavior like that? That is _not_ funny! Sexually stalking someone, even _pretending_ to do so, is _not_ funny! Rape threats, even _bluff_ rape threats, are _not_ funny! Hell, literally _anything_ and _everything_ related in even the most remote way to rape is never, I repeat, _never_ , funny! Those things never _are_ funny! They never _have_ been funny! And! They! _Never_! _Will_! Be! _FUNNY_!"

"Charlotte please," Zach whimpered.

"Fourthly," Charlotte continued, clearly on a roll. "None; I repeat, _none_ ; of the lovable bad boys I've ever had fun with _ever_ go so far as to commit outright _jail_ worthy crimes! And both the one crime that actually _did_ commit _and_ the two you merely _attempted_ to commit, are jail worthy crimes!

She lifted her finger. "Exhibit A: theft! This Monday, you stole a pair of Cody's glasses and flushed them down the toilet! This Tuesday, you stole Dunlap's oil can and replaced it with an identical copy filled with super glue!"

She lifted a 2nd finger. "Exhibit B: rape! This past Monday and Tuesday, you attempted _twice_ to convince Susan to be your bedding partner! Once each day! And by 'convince', I mean you tried to force yourself upon her and proved yourself apparently more than willing to rape her! And unlike when you made similar threats against that sophomore girl, you were dead serious in your intentions against Susan!"

Zach winced, both at what Charlotte had just brought up and the fact that he'd acted convincing enough to get her (plus God knew who else) to actually _believe_ that he'd genuinely planned to do such an appalling act, something that now he very much regretted having even wanted in the first place. "Charlotte," he began shakily.

"Exhibit C: murder!" She jabbed her finger upon Zach's chest again and again for emphasis as she spoke. "This past Tuesday, when you made your 2nd effort at raping Susan, you were respectable enough to at least give Calvin a fair chance at defending his own claim by challenging him to a fight. But during said fight, you proceeded not only to _cheat_ , but also to try to flipping _kill_ Calvin! I don't care how much you wanted to have Susan as your bedding partner, or how much you felt slighted over the fact that Calvin got picked over you as vice male lead, but that doesn't give you the right to _murder_ him! _I_ got passed over for both female lead _and_ vice female lead! Did I try to kill Diana? Hell! Fucking! No!"

Zach opened his mouth to try once again to interrupt, but Charlotte was nowhere close to stopping her rant. "And on that same note, here's another difference between you and all the 'proper' bad boys around here; they at least don't go so are as to betray their principles!"

She pointed at Zach. "Don't you dare think that I didn't at some point become aware of how much you've bragged about your precious little moral code. Well let me ask you this, where was it this Tuesday? This Monday even?"

Zach opened his mouth to respond, only for Charlotte to once again continue speaking literally one second later. "And furthermore, this same difference is actually two differences in one! All those 'proper' bad boys around here I associate with? Not only do they at least have the decency to stick to their principles, but they at least are honest about themselves! What you had us all believe these last few years? Simple, that you were only a bad boy in a sense that you had the air of one around him, not that you were literally a living villain. That A: you had fun with large numbers of girls, but were always decent enough to treat them all with respect and accept their wishes and B: the only people you'd ever bully or get into fights with were other bad boys like yourself or assholes who had it coming! Over these past few days, you've bullied and picked fights with nice people who had done absolutely nothing wrong to you, attempted to _kill_ one of those very people, and completely showed absolutely _zero_ respect for Susan, a girl that I might add was the very _first_ girl to _ever_ say no to bedding with you, _or_ her wishes!"

Charlotte took a deep breath, exhaled, and then folded her arms across her chest. "I hate Diana," she said. "I hate her. And for good reason. But even though she couldn't possibly be any further beneath Daniel and unworthy of serving company with him than she already is, is in love with him and is trying to earn his own love in return despite these inadequacies, and is daring to even consider such ideas even though it's an unspoken rule of the natural order that such a place in his heart is rightfully mine, I'm at least smart enough to tell that she's at least a genuinely nice girl and good friend to Daniel. Hell, she and Daniel may have only truly been friends with literally all nine of those other losers, plus that unnaturally intelligent mutt, for about two or three days. But there's no denying that all of them, plus Diana, are genuinely nice people and true, loyal, and good friends to Daniel. And that's something that I only _wish_ I could say about _you_ after all you've done the last few days."

At this point, Zach could only stand perfectly still where he was, gaping helplessly at Charlotte, and his arms hanging limp at his sides.

Charlotte snorted, rolled her blue eyes, and shook her head side to side, sending her ash blonde hair swinging side to side as well. "I hope that's more than enough of an elaboration to allow you to properly understand how much of a monster you are despite your thick numb skull." She lifted her finger. "Because as of now, I am not devoting any more time with you today than I already have. Why?" She pointed at Zach. "Because today is my _birthday_ , and my _sweet 16_ no less. And I am not going to let any _thing_ or any _one_ ruin it! And I'm most certainly not going to let it be ruined by a sick, twisted, perverted, amoral, brainless, unfeeling, irresponsible, misogynistic, self-righteous, hypocritical asshole who cares only about himself, gives zero shits about anyone else, treats love like a toy, only loves girls for their bodies and their skill as bedding partners, shamelessly moves on from one girl to the next without a thought like a rooster with hens, and hides behind and brags about an oh so important moral code that he's all too willing to cast aside the moment he meets a girl brave enough to say no to being his newest bedding partner!"

She turned her back to Zach, her hair briefly billowing upwards. "Goodbye. Good day." She lifted her hand so that the back of it was facing Zach while she subsequently flipped him the finger. "Fuck off." She stormed down the hall away from Zach, radiating with outrage.

Zach remained standing, unable to move. He was that shaken up by the vicious verbal roasting that Charlotte had just now slammed him with. The fact that, aside from a couple erroneous details that he himself had idiotically gone to great lengths to make sure she actually thought were true, what she'd said was 100% correct didn't help in the slightest. He eventually managed to turn around, still frozen in shock and guilt, only to rear back in surprise at the sight of the three most ardent members of his fan girl groupies standing right there.

Before he even had a chance to get his voice back and say anything, the girl in the middle, who just happened to be the Chinese American ringleader, stated bluntly, "She's right you know Zachary."

"Yeah," said the cohort to her left, a blonde. "We may have been too blind to see it before. But now that Calvin's trashed your high-handed ass and we've had time to think about it, we've come to realize just how shitty we were to believe in someone like you."

"What they said," said the other cohort, a redhead. She shook her head side to side. "We don't need you. And honestly, we must have really been a whole new level of _idiotic_ to think that we actually _wanted_ you. And to put it simply. . ." She pointed past Zach down the direction Charlotte had gone. "She's right." She pointed at Zach. "You're wrong." She leaned her head sideways on her hands, a dreamy look now in her eyes. "Calvin rules." She glared at Zach. "You suck." She lifted her finger. "Susan's smart." She pointed at Zach. "You're dumb." She gestured at her two gal pals. "And until the day of your defeat and fall from your undeserved grace, so were we."

"Indeed," the Chinese American agreed. She glared at Zach once more. "But now?" She and her two cohorts lifted their hands and had their palms face Zach. "We officially wipe our hands of you, and so do the rest of us." They turned their backs to him in unison, lifted their hands, and gave a sarcastic wave in synch.

"Toodle-oo," they said in unison. And then they walked away.

By the time Zach finally regained his voice and ability to move, the three girls were already at the end of the hallway and walking away to the right. He hurriedly ran over to the end of the hallway. "Hey! Wait!"

Right as he reached the end of the hallway, he shrieked and skidded to a stop when none other than two of his highest-ranking subordinates amongst the basketball team stepped out from the hallway that the three fan girls had entered. When he finally got his breath back, he stared in shock at his two subordinates. "Wha. . . what are you doing here?"

"We were looking for you," said one of the two boys.

"We all were."

Zach turned around in time to find the entirety of the basketball team gathered behind him. He looked hurriedly back and forth between the duo in front of him and crowd behind him, and they all glared at him with expressions that looked very disturbingly hateful. "Well, you've found me," he said weakly.

"This some kind of joke to you?"

Zach winced, and opened his mouth, only to pause as he tried to think of an adequate response.

"Well we're not joking," said the 2nd high ranking subordinate in front of Zach. He pointed at Zach. "And as of the end of today, you're not our leader."

Zach's heart seemed to stop, and his eyes widened as he gaped at his two apparently now _former_ subordinates. "What?"

"You heard them," said one of the basketball players behind him. "You ain't our leader. After the shit you pulled the past few days? You ain't got the right to call yourself our leader anymore. Hell, we're not sure you even got no right to even be a member of this here team at all, period."

Zach gasped and sputtered, unable to coherently respond.

"Throughout all the years that the New Directions glee club has been in existence," said another basketball player, "the members of the McKinley High basketball team have always, without any exceptions, been the nicest jocks in this entire school, to the glee club or anyone else, and only ever pulled off douche moves against pieces of shit who deserved it."

A third basketball player stepped forward from the crowd. "And there ain't no way in Hell we're going to let that reputation be ruined and sent down the tubes just because of some jackass we thought was just like us and deserved to be our leader."

"Indeed."

The two high ranking subordinates looked each other in the eyes with a silent message, and then looked back at Zach. "Today, Coach Bieste and the rest of us shall twice be putting things to a vote. First, we'll be putting to a vote which one of us will be taking your place as leader of the basketball team. And after that, we're gonna put it to a vote as to whether to let you stay on the team as a mere subordinate, or to kick you off." The two boys gritted their teeth angrily. "Spoiler alert," they said. "The two of us are gonna be voting for option 2." They nodded their heads. "Goodbye." The basketball team departed.

After another pause, Zach dejectedly continued onward, only to end up coming to a stop again at the sight of a group of nerds glaring at him. No sooner had he stopped when the nerds all crossed their arms across their chests. "Well if isn't Zach the Ripper," said one of the nerds. He shook his head side to side and continued glaring at Zach. "Well what are you gonna do now, huh? You gonna bully us to? Like you did your peers in the glee club?"

"Look at this," said a girl amongst the nerds who had her foot in a cast and was holding a crutch under her right arm. "You gonna take this crutch away from me? Force me to hop around on my good foot everywhere I go for the entire rest of the school day?"

"My cousin's diabetic," said another nerd, this one a boy. "What are you gonna do? Rip her insulin pump clean off of her and smash it? Force her to be without insulin for the entire rest of her time at school today? Force her to be unable to eat or do a single God damned thing without running the risk of going into shock? Sending her blood sugar to the moon and beyond? Going into a coma from a low blood sugar? Or better yet, dare I see it, just flat out dropping dead?"

The entire small group pointed their fingers accusingly at Zach. "Go ahead and try one of those deeds," the apparent ring leader of the group hissed. "Or any other heinous and sick little crime. We dare you. Because the sooner you end up in jail for life and out of this school, the better. Daniel Taymor doesn't deserve you. Mr. Schuester doesn't deserve you. The New Directions doesn't deserve you. This school doesn't deserve you. This town doesn't deserve you. This state doesn't deserve you. This country doesn't deserve you. This continent doesn't deserve you. The whole, damn, _planet_ , doesn't deserve you."

Zach couldn't take it anymore. He practically forced himself to look away from the nerds and ran down the hallway as far away from the angry nerds as he could.

"Yeah you'd better run!"

Zach allowed no sign of his hearing that last comment show. He needed to get away. He needed some sort of escape or relief, and soon. Anything to help him shed the horrible, horrible, horrible shame and guilt he was now feeling for his actions combined with the slight despair and loneliness he was now starting to feel as a result of how so many people were now so quickly starting to turn against him.

"Just like Charlotte was hoping would happen with Daniel," he thought to himself, now feeling even more saddened and filled with despair. He closed his eyes, continuing to run aimlessly through the McKinley High hallways. But not even that was enough to help him shake off his current rapidly building black aura of misery, guilt, and despair. "What have I done?" he thought to himself. "Sweet Jesus; what have I done?"

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Once again, I hope you all enjoyed reading it and leave plenty of feedback! Remember, I require a minimum of one (though two is an equally strongly recommended number) review for this new chapter by the time the next chapter is finished in order for you to all to be allowed/made capable of reading the next chapter to come. That being said, I'm sure you've probably noticed just how rapidly Zach's life at McKinley High is starting to fall apart outside the glee club and his home life right? Yeah, it's not by accident that I'm having this befall him. And for those of you who really put their minds to it, the current fate starting to unfold for Zach does bear some unnerving parallels to the plan Charlotte originally wanted Zach to help out with involving Daniel that's proven responsible for Zach being inspired into doing the stuff that caused this whole mess trapping him in the first place. Nonetheless, feel free to comment on/with whatever you want (EXCEPT FLAMES!). Again, I hope you all enjoyed reading this Hellishly long awaited new chapter and leave plenty of feedback.**

 **Coming up Next: For the sake of attempting to make Charlotte's special day truly fantastic, Silena and Ashley decide to try to take a hand at directly getting involved in Charlotte's efforts at achieving her insane quest for Daniel's love.**


	16. Playtime's Over

**FINALLY! A new chapter! Boy I'm hoping you all find it worth the wait! In this chapter, Silena and Ashley decide to take a shot at directly getting involved for once in Charlotte's insane efforts at getting her hooks into Daniel. But just how far will they go in this effort at helping their friend? Find out, in this new chapter! And that being said, here's to hoping you read, enjoy, and review!**

 **A/N: Once again, I do not own Glee. All I own are my OCs. Get that? Got that? Good. Onward with the fic ya'll!**

 **Chapter 16:**

 **Playtime's Over**

Silena Townsend and Ashley Manning gazed intently at their mutual superior as she worked carefully on reading the textbook pages that the teacher had assigned her and the other students present to read. Quite frankly, the two of them were supposed to be reading the textbook pages as well. However, they currently had other thoughts on their minds.

As the two cheerios were quite aware, today was Charlotte's 16th birthday. And as it happened, the two of them had even been invited to attend her celebration to occur that very weekend alongside Charlotte and her family. Both, naturally, had accepted. In Ashley's case, she was just that good of a friend, plus a mostly all-around nice girl. And as for Silena, while she did want very much to take the throne of head cheerio for herself, she was far from the type to be mean-spirited to Charlotte on her birthday of all days. The two of them had even already gotten their planned birthday gifts for Charlotte that past weekend.

But now, at this current moment, Ashley now had a tiny idea of how they could perhaps attempt to help make their captain's special day even better. She turned her head to Silena, and made a whispered hiss to attract her attention. The brunette turned her head to face Ashley.

"You remember how today's Charlotte's birthday right?"

Silena nodded. "Yes."

Ashley briefly turned her head to look in Charlotte's direction. Then she looked back at Silena. "You are also aware of how important it is that today be a good day for her, right?"

Silena narrowed her eyes irritably. "I was born at _night_ ; not _last_ night."

Ashley winced, and quickly shook her head side to side to clear her thoughts. "Right, sorry." She leaned forwards, whispering, "The point is, I have an idea of how we could help make today even _better_ for Charlotte."

Silena raised her eyebrow, now clearly interested. "Oh really?"

Ashley nodded her head.

Silena grinned, clearly convinced that this idea might be worth considering. "Do elaborate further," she whispered.

Ashley looked towards Charlotte, then the teacher, and then back at Silena. "You know how Charlotte's always basically on her own in her efforts to get herself hooked up with the quarterback?"

Silena rolled her eyes. "Is that a trick question?" She directed a half annoyed and half perplexed glare at Charlotte. "Honestly, every single detail about that little quest of hers is so honking obvious. It would be a miracle for you to find anyone around here who isn't an obvious freshman or similar newcomer that _isn't_ aware of _that_ detail, or any _other_ detail, about this whole mess."

"Well I was thinking," Ashley promptly continued once Silena was finished speaking. "Maybe, just for today at least, the two of us could see if she'd let us try to help her."

Silena's eyes widened. "You're joking," she said.

Ashley's eyes narrowed. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

Silena's own eyes promptly narrowed to match Ashley's own glare. "Well there ain't no way you could possibly be serious about this."

"And why's that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Silena gestured her hand towards Charlotte. "This _quest_ of hers, as you so eloquently put it, is quite simply an exercise in futility."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Try telling her that," she grumbled sarcastically.

Silena narrowed her eyes further. "Oh sure, _great_ idea. I'll go ahead and place myself in line as the _latest_ person to tell her _exactly_ that, or something along similar lines. I'm sure I'll _totally_ be the one who tells her that and gets lucky enough to be the person in which telling her that makes even _remotely_ makes a difference."

Ashley groaned irritably, just barely keeping her voice at whisper volume. "That's beside the point," she hissed.

"You think?"

Silena took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Look Ashley," she managed to say calmly. "Don't get me wrong, I know full well that it is somewhat our fault that she even got the idea that she was possibly in love with Daniel and potentially had a chance to be _that_ girl for him in the first place thanks to that talk we had after that talent show from the summer after middle school graduation."

She shook her head side to side. "But in the last two years that have followed since that talent show? We've all changed Ashley. And furthermore, I've been paying quite a bit of attention, and I know you have too. And to put it simply, Daniel's clearly not any more interested in Charlotte period, let alone in any romantic sense, then he was in middle school. Heck, very likely as a direct result of how much interest she's been showing towards him since the start of Freshman Year thanks to us, I'd say he's now even _less_ interested in her then he was in middle school."

Silena pointed at Charlotte, who was still focused entirely on reading her textbook, and blissfully unaware of the discussion her two friends were having. "And I don't know about you, but I also think that it would be much better for our mental health to continue keeping our distance from all this as far as direct involvement is concerned. I mean, seriously, have you _seen_ what she's been trying to pull lately? The first few plots she tried, I'll admit, perfectly acceptable and somewhat harmless enough. But at this point, the stuff she's been cooking up? The lengths she's been willing to try to go to? Say what you will about my family's history with the extremes we've been willing to go to over the course of our 'always get what we want' mentality phases, but Charlotte's been making my family's most infamous past incidents look tame over the last few months. Color me suspicious, but I honestly fear the poor girl's gone mad."

Ashley took a deep breath, and exhaled, working to regain her composure. After all, the last thing she needed to do was to explode in anger right there in the classroom. And besides, Silena did have a legitimate point. "Look Silena," she whispered. "I understand where you're coming from. I really do." She gestured towards Charlotte. "But honestly Silena, surely it wouldn't hurt for us to at least _try_ to help her out at least this once? I'm not saying we should fully commit ourselves to always helping her out with her efforts 100% from this day onward. I'm just thinking we should at least see if she's willing to let us try to assist her at least this once. For all we know, she could yet say no. Besides. . ."

She shrugged in a 'win-win' fashion. "Today's her birthday. You've gotta admit, regardless of whether she says yes or no to this proposal, she'd probably at least appreciate the sentiment coming from us on this day of all days."

Silena thought to herself, considering Ashley's words. Then, after what seemed like an eternity to the patiently waiting Ashley, Silena sighed, and nodded her head up and down. "Ok," said the brunette. "I suppose we could try just this once." She lifted her finger. "But _only_ this once. Understood?"

Ashley nodded, indicating that she understood.

"Good." Silena took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Now if, hypothetically, Charlotte says yes to this proposal, what exactly did you have in mind?"

Ashley thought to herself, a sheepish grimace starting to appear on her face. "Well . . . I honestly haven't really gotten that far."

Silena narrowed her eyes.

"Look Silena," said Ashley. "I get that this looks bad. But let's be reasonable, all I was suggesting was that we offer to provide assistance to Charlotte. Coming up with devious plots and such? That's not my territory. Devious stuff is what I leave for you and Charlotte to handle."

At the sound of this, Silena's eyebrow rose, but this time in interest. "Hmm, that is a fair point." A wide grin came on her face, and she placed her hand comfortingly on Ashley's. "Fear not," she said. "I'll see what I can think up with as far as actual ideas to suggest. All you have to worry about is making the pitch for us providing assistance to dear ol' Charlie." She directed her gaze towards Charlotte, grin still on her face and her dark eyes agleam with a very mischievous looking light. "Like you said," she admitted. "Devious stuff is me and Charlie's area."

She chuckled. "A Townsend always gets what she wants," she whispered half to herself and half to Ashley. She turned her head to look at Ashley once more. "And today, this Townsend wants Charlotte Thornton to have an especially happy birthday today. And in the event that Charlie says yes to your proposal, I have a good feeling that I'll have a _perfect_ scheme all thought up and at the ready to be carried out by the time we finally get around to asking her."

. . . . .

"Let me get this straight," said Charlotte. "You're telling me that, for once, you're thinking of getting yourselves actively involved in my little quest alongside me?"

"That's one way of putting it," Ashley said modestly.

Silena nodded her head in agreement, a smug grin on her face.

As of that moment, the three highest ranking cheerios were meeting in an otherwise empty hallway in the time interval between the 1st and 2nd class periods to occur before recess, with the 2nd and 3rd highest ranking cheerios pausing only long enough for Silena to briefly take care of something she claimed to be of high importance that inexplicably enough involved looking through the contents of a nearby janitor's supply closet for some reason. Now, here they were discussing the possibility of the two of them helping their captain and friend out in her personal romance quest. And while Ashley was half excited and half nervous about how Charlotte would potentially respond to the offer, Silena was feeling quite smug and confident about the chances of Charlotte saying yes, and had even managed to think up a suitably devious scheme, just as she'd promised to Ashley back in their 1st period class.

Charlotte thought to herself. "I don't know," she said. "I've been working on my own for the past two years. You've gotta admit, it's pretty late in the game right now for you to suddenly want to help me out like this."

"I understand that Charlotte."

Ashley nodded her head, further emphasizing how much she understood where Charlotte was coming from. "But like you said, it's been two years since you've started this quest of yours, and results have been far from favorable."

Charlotte snorted irritably, but didn't comment. "No use denying the truth," she thought bitterly to herself.

"Think of it this way," said Silena. She placed her hands on her hips, grin still on her face. "It's certainly something new to try out. And besides, we're not saying that we want to be your permanent partners in this business from here on out. We're just suggesting that we try to help you just this one time." She nodded her head. "Be honest. Surely it wouldn't hurt for us to try to assist you at least this once. I certainly don't see anything for you to lose."

"She's right," Ashley agreed. She nodded her head. "And besides, today's your birthday; your sweet 16 no less. You've gotta admit, on this day of all days, the fact that we're offering to do something _this_ nice is a good reason to feel happy."

Charlotte thought to herself some more. When she really put her mind to it, her 2nd and 3rd in command certainly had a point. After all, she'd already spent two full school years now working strictly on her own in her efforts to get her hooks into Daniel, with consistently abysmal results. Not to mention the fact that, out of all her plans she'd currently thought up and attempted, the idea of letting her friends help out in any capacity certainly wasn't amongst them. She let a smile come on her face. "Maybe their assistance is just the thing I need to finally make some significant progress for once." Her smile then widened as she thought once again about how today was her birthday. "I'll admit," she thought to herself, "the fact that they're actually _willing_ to get directly involved in all this certainly does make a pretty sweet birthday present." She nodded her head up and down with her eyes closed. Then she looked directly at them. "Well when you put it that way," she began aloud. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give this a shot." She nodded her head once more. "Mind if I ask just what exactly you had in mind?"

"I'm glad you asked." Silena chuckled, dark eyes agleam. "I've got just the thing for Ashley and I to do."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow in confusion. "I thought this was Ashley's idea."

"Technically," said Silena, "it was her idea merely for the two of us to assist you. Exactly _how_ we would assist you was for me to worry about." She nodded her head up and down. "And like I just said, I know just what we're going to do."

Charlotte kept her eyebrow raised, but her facial expression was now indicating interest rather than confusion. "Well in that case, care to elaborate further?"

Silena chuckled, and grinned at Charlotte. "And spoil the surprise? Come on Charlie, today's your birthday."

Charlotte pretended to pout.

Silena chuckled again. "I'll compromise. The basic gist?" She pointed at Ashley. "Ashley and me? We're going to make sure that Diana is removed from the picture and kept busy over the course of the recess session meeting of No Directions."

Charlotte turned confused once more. "How is that supposed to help?"

"I'll admit, it's a bit iffy." Silena nodded her head. "But if we're lucky, her absence from said club meeting will allow you ample opportunity to get your moves on."

"How?"

"Put it this way, with their female lead missing, especially for as long as I plan for Ashley and me to make sure she stays that way, everyone else will be so distracted wondering about where she is that it should be quite unlikely that anyone will be all that quick to interrupt you in your efforts at having a nice little chat with your precious Danny Boy."

Charlotte thought to herself. "Well you're certainly right about it being a bit iffy." She shook her head side to side. "I honestly don't know if arranging for Diana to be absent from the recess glee club meeting will be enough to prevent any interference from Mr. Schuester or any of the other losers amongst the club's student roster." Her eyes narrowed. "And that's before I get into one other little detail."

Charlotte folded her arms across her chest. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm quite aware of how much time she spends with that Vanessa Hudgens body double. Hell, with how little attention I've ever bothered to pay to those two, I know that they were already good friends and chummed around together for large amounts of time since long before this year. But honestly? Ever since they both joined this club, they're almost _never_ anywhere outside each other's company, not to mention rarely ever not alongside Danny Boy and the puzzle brained animal for that matter. Suffice it to say, I have a pretty good feeling that it would take a miracle for you to find Diana all alone without at least Susan present alongside her."

Ashley cringed, a half sheepish grin and half grimace as she realized the valid point that Charlotte had just made. The two blondes both looked at Silena, who herself briefly appeared thrown for a loop over this detail. But then the brunette shrugged, and her confident grin returned. "Well no matter," she said. "If she's with Diana, Ashley and I will just take her out of the picture to. That way, there will be _two_ members of the No Directions inexplicably absent from the recess meeting for those present to wonder and worry about. Not to mention the fact that said absent members happen to be the club's leading ladies as that bippity bopper Broadway wannabe would put it."

Silena lifted her finger to further emphasize what she was saying. "And furthermore," she continued, now _really_ on a role. "With the vice leading lady missing, odds are very high indeed that both the, as you so lovingly called him, puzzle brained animal _and_ his unsettlingly smart bodyguard dog of his will be _plenty_ distracted." She placed her hands on her hips, grinning still, and her dark eyes agleam. "You gotta admit, iffy as this plan is, it's certainly worth at least trying, right?"

Charlotte considered the idea. Then she closed her eyes and nodded her head. "I suppose that's true." She opened her eyes and stared straight at her two friends. "Alright, I'll let you try to help me out at least this once; and if we're all lucky and this nutty idea of yours works, then I suppose we'll have even more reason to celebrate this weekend."

Ashley let out a sigh of relief, glad that Charlotte had accepted their offer to help her. Silena, meanwhile, chuckled maliciously, unnerving grin still on her face. "Don't you worry Charlie," said the brunette. "This plan will work. There ain't no doubt about that. Just you wait and see."

. . . . .

An hour or so later, with 2nd period class over and about 15 minutes left before the recess session of glee club began, Diana and Susan were walking together through the hallways to make a quick stop at their lockers. A few minutes earlier, they'd been walking towards the choir room alongside Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes. But they'd since split off from the boys and dog to make their locker trip, and the boys had promised to meet up with them in front of the choir room. And now, it wouldn't be much longer before the two of them reached their lockers. And as soon as they were finished, it would likewise not take too long for them to regroup with Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes at the choir room.

The two girls reached their lockers, opened them, and started sorting out what they would need for their classes to occur immediately after recess while putting away what they no longer immediately needed. At that moment, suffice it to say, they were having a pretty good and happy day, and they couldn't see any way that it could possibly turn otherwise.

Little did they know, however, that they were being watched from within a nearby janitor's supply closet by a pair of cheerios who were now quite keen on making sure that exactly that possibility came true. Or at least . . . one of them was keen on making this happen. The other cheerio, however. . .

"I'm asking you this again," Ashley practically hissed, her tone clearly indicating how shocked and scandalized she appeared to be. "Are you insane?"

Silena narrowed her eyes at Ashley in annoyance. "For the 7th time, no. What part of that did you not get the first time?"

Ashley narrowed her own eyes back at Silena. "Well excuse me for being skeptical," she hissed. "But what you're about to have us do sounds awfully hypocritical of you after our discussion earlier."

Silena's eyes narrowed even further. "Oh really?" She folded her arms across her chest. "Enlighten me."

"Wish granted," said Ashley. "This apparent perfect scheme of yours? Color me cynical, but I hardly see how what you're suggesting for us to do right now to Susan and Diana is any different, let alone any _better_ , than any of that beyond Townsend standard craziness you claim that Charlotte's been up to lately."

"This is different," said Silena.

"How?" Ashley asked spitefully in response.

"Simple."

Silena took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Think of it this way," she began. "What we're doing? Doing this our way, the worst that happens is that Roxie and Velma are left preoccupied for a short while or so, admittedly in not entirely conventional or similarly socially acceptable fashion, but are otherwise unharmed. If Charlotte were doing this?" She shook her head side to side, shuddering in the process. "Lord knows how much she'd overdo the whole business and how much torture and horror she'd put the poor girls through."

Ashley raised her eyebrow. While in fairness, Silena did have a reasonable enough point, Ashley still wasn't 100% convinced. "Are you sure you're not just trying to make up excuses to deny how much more similar you are to Charlotte than you think you are?"

"Ashley," said Silena. "Look, I get it. I know that it's hardly the most palatable idea I'm suggesting for us to do here. But honestly Ashley, as extreme as Charlotte's been getting lately? She's _still_ been playing it relatively safe so far."

Ashley raised her eyebrow. "You call those last few schemes you tried out playing it safe? I'm not buying it."

"The point is," Silena hissed, "if the two of us, or Charlotte for that matter, are to succeed in this matter, we can't mess around and treat this like a game. We need to be decisive, firm, to the point." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "To put it simply, now's not the time to act like children. Playtime's over."

Ashley moaned uncomfortably, directed her gaze towards the still blissful and happy Diana and Susan. "I don't know," she whimpered. "I really don't like the sound of what you're suggested for us to do here."

"I know Ashley," said Silena, this time sounding noticeably more patient and sympathetic than in her last few comments. "But think of it this way, my version of this plan? It will be God knows more safe and comfortable for the victims than it would be if Charlotte were at the reigns for this idea."

Ashley thought to herself, grimacing and clenching her teeth in the process. Then she sighed, hung her head, and exhaled, eyes closed the whole time. "Fine, I'll go through with this." She looked back at Silena, eyes open and glaring. "But mark my words, if this goes wrong, you're explaining to Charlotte, as well as to any other of the wrong people who end up getting involved and pissed off."

"I understand," said Silena.

"And furthermore," said Ashley. "Regardless of how well this goes, this had better be both the 1st _and_ last time I end up having to do something that goes so strongly against my personal morals and comfort zone."

"I'll try my best," said Silena. She sighed. "But I can't promise anything other than that."

Ashley narrowed her eyes, clearly not fully convinced by Silena's not entirely convincing response to her last demand.

Then Silena happened to glance in Diana and Susan's direction from the corner of her eye, and her eyes widened. "Shit, it's time." She looked at Ashley. "We'll worry about the subtle details later, we gotta make our move! Now!"

"Fine," Ashley growled. "But regardless of how this unfolds, you owe me."

And at that, the two girls hurriedly, but quietly, slipped out of the janitor's closet and made their way towards Susan and Diana right as the two New Directions female leads were wrapping up their business at their lockers. The two female leads in question were none the wiser . . . until it was too late.

. . . . .

Calvin stared down the hall in the direction that led back to where Susan and Diana had departed to go to their lockers. His eyes narrowed in a mixture of suspicion, confusion, and worry. He knew through both personal locker experience and how well he knew Susan that her and Diana's planned business with their lockers was a quite simple and easily completed task, and that they strangely appeared right now to be taking far longer than they should have been. And this was enough to get him, and Hobbes for that matter, to feel quite worried that something was wrong. "What's taking Susan so long?" Calvin thought to himself.

"You ok?"

Calvin and Hobbes looked to their left, and saw that Daniel had turned his head to look at them. Calvin sighed, and looked back in the direction leading towards where Diana and Susan supposedly still were. "Need I answer?"

Daniel sighed, and hung his head, nodding it up and down briefly in understanding. "I'll admit," said Daniel, "it is definitely unsettling that they're taking as long as they are."

"Understatement," Calvin grumbled. Hobbes snarled in agreement.

Daniel placed his hand on Calvin's shoulder to keep him calm. "But nonetheless," Daniel said calmly, clearly trying his best to keep himself together for his vice male lead's sake despite his own worries about potential negative reasons behind Susan and Diana's continued prolonged absence. "I'm sure there's no need to worry _too_ much. I'm sure that Diana and Susan are perfectly fine."

Even as he said this, Daniel still wasn't fully convinced of the idea himself. But at the same time, he wanted to believe that Diana and Susan were perfectly fine and safe, as well as to prevent Calvin from losing his cool from worry. Granted, if enough time passed much longer without Diana and Susan showing up and proving that they were alright, he would definitely worry full stop, and let Calvin do the same. But for now, Daniel really wished to try to keep things civil and calm as long as he could while still hoping for the best in regard to Susan and Diana's welfare despite their current absence.

Calvin raised his eyebrow, clearly not 100% convinced. Hobbes also looked at Daniel with clear suspicion in his eyes. Then the autistic boy and his therapy dog looked each other in the eyes, seemed to think to themselves, and then hung their heads. Calvin even went so far as to sigh heavily in resignation. "I hope you're right," said Calvin.

"Me to," Daniel admitted. "Me to."

And with that, the two boys reluctantly turned around and entered the choir room. Thus, they were the first people to enter the choir room for the recess session that day. And right now, they could only hope that Diana and Susan were indeed perfectly alright, safe, and healthy. But of course, in the event that they continued to remain absent and the chances of them _not_ being alright, safe, and healthy rose too much higher than they currently were to ignore, then they would be more than willing to go right back out and search for them to make damn sure that their two female leads were restored back to a comfortable level of safety.

 **And just like that, another chapter over. I'll admit, somewhat (and I do mean SOMEWHAT) suspenseful ending here on this particular chapter. Oh well. Nonetheless, I hope very much that you all enjoyed reading this chapter, found it worth the somewhat long wait between this one and the previous chapter, and that you all leave plenty (and I do mean PLENTY) of feedback (remember, I require a minimum of 1-2 reviews, but it is STRONGLY encouraged that EVERYBODY who reads this and is capable of leaving reviews leave a review). Again, hope you all enjoyed this new chapter and leave plenty of feedback!**

 **Coming up Next: Calvin and Daniel finally reach breaking point, and promptly set off to find Susan and Diana, to the point of putting the recess glee club meeting on hold, and thus putting a significant wrench in Charlotte's plan (again!). And for that matter, just what HAVE Silena and Ashley done to 'ensure Diana and Susan's absence' from the glee club recess meeting? Find out next time!**


	17. Up Close and Personal

**Alright ya'll! Hope you haven't lost faith in me as a result of the long wait, cuz here is a new chapter! In this new chapter, Calvin and Daniel have finally had enough, and promptly set off (with Hobbes in tow) to find the mysteriously absent Diana and Susan (and in the process, we all figure out alongside them just WHAT Silena and Ashley did to cause them to be absent in the 1st place). And in the events that unfold as a result, things epically backfire in Charlotte's face yet again! Hip, hip, hooray! Sound like fun? I certainly hope so! Please read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, I'll just remind you again; I do not own Glee. That being said, onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 17:**

 **Up Close and Personal**

As it so happened, Diana and Susan were indeed _not_ alright, safe, and healthy. Not at all. But at the same time, they also could've just as easily been even less so. Then again, the fact that their current situation could have been even worse would have hardly been all that comforting for them when one took into account just how bad their situation already was.

How bad was their current situation, one might ask? Well for one thing, they were currently locked inside a janitor supply closet. Beforehand, they'd been minding their own business at their lockers in preparation for their classes to immediately follow recess before planning to make their way back towards the choir room and meet up with Daniel and Calvin. But then, right as they'd been wrapping up their locker business and preparing to leave the area, they'd abruptly been grabbed from behind with an arm wrapped around their bodies to pin their arms down and a hand covering their mouths, at which point they'd been dragged backwards and into the closet.

Upon entry into the closet, it hadn't taken long for Susan and Diana to become aware that their captors were none other than Charlotte's two highest ranking cheerio underlings, Silena and Ashley. But almost immediately after they'd learned this, the two cheerios in question had promptly made their already unpleasant situation even worse thanks to some conveniently present items inside the closet that Diana and Susan now couldn't help but feel disturbed about being present in the janitor's closet in such readily available capacity. As a result, not only were they locked inside the janitor's closet, but they were also tied up and had their mouths taped shut. Needless to say, they were _not_ happy about having been abducted period, let alone in such an undignified fashion.

Diana thrashed and squirmed around angrily on the left side of the closet as she furiously struggled to free herself from the yellowish ropes pinioning her hands together behind her back and binding her feet together, grumbling irritably through the strip of black duct tape that Silena had gagged her with. "Jjjssshhhsss Ccchhhrrrsssttt," Diana snarled through her gag, shaking her head side to side. "Ttthhhsss rrr ttthhhttt."

"Jjjnnn ttthhh ccclllbbb," Susan growled as she struggled against her own bonds and glared just as irritably as her friend above her own black duct tape gag that Ashley had placed across her mouth. She looked towards the locked door to the closet. "Hmm dddnnnttt kkknnnwww fffrrr cccrrrtttnnn wwwhhhmmm rrr wwwhhhttt wwwsss rrrssspppnnnsssbbblll fffrrr ttthhhppphhh, bbbttt hhhfff Ccchhhrrrlllttt hhhddd hhhnnnmmmppphhhnnnggg tttmmm dddmmm wwwttthhh ttthhhppphhh, ttthhhnnn bbbmmm Gggddd, ssshhhsss gggnnn tttmmm fffrrr ttthhhppphhh tttmmm."

"Nnnmmm bbbllldddmmm kkkdddhhhnnnggg." Diana snorted, rolled her eyes, and tossed her blonde hair side to side as she continued to struggle to free herself. "Gggddd!" she roared angrily through her tape gag as she continued to have no luck, green eyes blazing venomously. "Hhhttt ttthhhppphhh rrrhhhttt, wwwlll bbbmmm lllttt fffrrr ggglllmmm ccclllbbb!"

Susan glared at Diana, her blue eyes icy above the black tape on her mouth. "Yyymmm cccrrrtttnnnlllmmm hhhvvv yyyrrr ppprrrhhhmmmhhhrrrhhhtttmmmsss ssstttrrrhhhttt," she grumbled sarcastically.

. . . . .

Daniel was not in the best of moods at that moment as he sat patiently at his seat in the choir room. He wasn't angry, per se. Not at all. He was, however very much aware of how unsettlingly long Diana now appeared to be taking in a task that quite simply should not have taken even a quarter as long as it now seemingly taken, and getting increasingly worried about why she and Susan still seemingly hadn't yet finished their task and arrived at the choir room.

Calvin, meanwhile, was feeling the exact same way that Daniel was now feeling. Except, naturally, where Daniel was especially concerned about Diana, he was far more concerned about Susan. Hobbes, naturally, felt the same way as his master. In fact, even now, both Calvin and Hobbes were tensed up in their respective positions and looking intently in the direction of the choir room door with narrowed eyes as they watched for any sign of Susan or Diana.

Most of the other people present in the room at that point also seemed confused, worried, and similarly uncertain about Diana and Susan's conspicuous absence. Seven of the other gleeks were looking around and worriedly whispering to each other about the absence. The band members also looked worried. Mr. Schuester clearly was both worried and trying his best to remain optimistic. Even Brad looked noticeably worried.

The only two people who didn't seem to look worried, meanwhile, were Zach and Charlotte. In Zach's case, he seemed to be lost in his own little world, while also still having a rather guilty look on his face as he remembered his earlier encounter with Charlotte that morning and his actions over the past few days. As for Charlotte, she seemed rather pleased and excited. Granted, a small part of her was surprised and unnerved at the fact that Susan and Diana were indeed absent and taking so long to arrive at the choir room. But at the same time, she also couldn't help but feel triumphant and joyful that Silena's nutty idea appeared to have miraculously worked.

"Besides," she thought to herself. "Whatever it is Silena and Ashley did to enforce this absence upon them, it couldn't have been all that drastic, right? Being drastic is my job." She nodded her head slowly, taking a deep breath and exhaling with her eyes closed. "Yeah," she reasoned to herself in her mind. "They're just keeping them occupied with a nice civilized talk. That's all that's going on. Nothing too serious." To be fair, she still wasn't entirely convinced of her own excuse. But nonetheless, she had to admit that, whatever it was that Silena and Ashley had done to ensure Diana and Susan's absence from the recess glee club meeting, it had worked spectacularly. She then directed a seductive smile in Daniel's direction, now quite aware that she indeed did seemingly have an ideal opportunity to talk with him. And even better, absolutely no one else at all, Daniel included, seemed to be even noticing how she was now looking at him. Her smile widened, blue eyes bright with delight and triumph. It seemed now that things would actually work out quite well for her for once.

What Charlotte didn't realize, however, was that Daniel in fact was aware of her scrutiny, as he was surreptitiously watching her from the corner of his left eye. And at that moment, he now found himself feeling even more unnerved about the current situation as a direct result of Charlotte, and not just because of her current scrutiny either. For starters, she'd arrived earlier than usual. Granted, she had still arrived five minutes past the time that the glee club session was supposed to begin, but the fact that she'd arrived five minutes late as opposed to her usual ten minutes late was still a noteworthy detail. And furthermore, not only had she managed to arrive five minutes earlier then she usually did, but she'd also very glaringly arrived _before_ Susan and Diana. And these two elements combined, plus the fact that 10 minutes had now passed without Susan or Diana arriving at the choir room, were enough to make Daniel feel very worried indeed.

Calvin was also surreptitiously directing his gaze at Charlotte. But unlike Daniel, he was now both suspicious as well as worried. "If I didn't think she had anything to do with Susan and Diana's current absence before," he thought to himself, "I definitely think so now." Hobbes, likewise, was now glaring in Charlotte's direction as well, clearly in agreement with his master's current thoughts.

At that moment, Charlotte leaned forward, her eyes bright and gleaming, and a smile still on her face as she finally chose to initiate an effort at making a move. But as her usual bad luck would have it, she was only seconds away from even speaking before she was interrupted.

"Alright class, from the top."

Calvin and Daniel's eyes widened, and so did the eyes of all the other gleeks present. In Charlotte's case, it appeared as if she were pleasantly surprised and delighted by the news she'd just heard. In Zach's case, it looked as if he'd been in his own little world and was now completely off guard as to just what was going on. The remaining nine gleeks, however, were quite understandably surprised, and not in a pleasant way.

"You're starting already?!" Daniel yelled. "Without Diana!?"

"And without Susan!?" Calvin yelled. Hobbes barked thrice in apparent agreement with his master.

Mr. Schuester sighed, and shook his head side to side. Truth be told, he didn't like the fact that he was now having to do this anymore than his students did. But at the end of the day, he really had to do his job. "Guys, I know that it would be better if Diana and Susan were here, but we've been waiting 10 minutes now. We've only got another 20 minutes left before recess ends and its time to prepare for 3rd period classes; so we might as well get at least some sort of proper session taken care of while we still have the chance."

"Without our female leads?!" Calvin yelled. He snarled. "You're the one who said how important it was to even have both male _and_ female leads. We can't have glee club sessions without them! Plain and simple!"

Mr. Schuester was about to respond with the not 100% factual way Calvin had just interpreted his words from that Monday when Daniel continued. "And especially not without Diana! She's been one of the most hardest working and most dedicated members of this club since the day we all first joined, and she's been wanting so badly to be a part of this for the last two years. Do you have any how heartbroken she'd be if we started without her?!" He turned his head back to face all the other gleeks behind him. "You agree with us, right?"

Seven of the other gleeks promptly responded with a hearty 'yes'. Charlotte merely glared, her fists clenched, clearly trying to keep herself from exploding in anger. Zach, on the other hand . . . "Hey, where's Diana and Susan?"

Even Charlotte and Hobbes couldn't help but direct a perplexed glare at Zach upon hearing this.

"Where were you for the last 30 seconds?!" Calvin howled.

"Forget that!" Daniel yelled. "Where were you for the last 11 minutes!?"

"Guys," said Mr. Schuester. "Please don't make me break up another fight today. . ."

"You know what Zach?" Daniel folded his arms across his chest and glared at the black boy. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have any suspicion of _you_ being somehow behind all this?"

The other gleeks briefly found their eyes widening at this accusation. But then all of them but Charlotte thought to themselves, realized that it was actually a somewhat fair point, and directed their suspicion filled gazes at Zach, who mentally winced, vocally sighed, and physically shook his head side to side with his eyes closed. "Man," Zach thought to himself, "I've _really_ gotten the short end of the stick this week."

"What makes you think he did it?"

The other people in the room all looked at Calvin in shock. Even Hobbes looked caught off guard. "You're _defending_ him?!" Daniel yelled.

Zach felt a brief flicker of hope. "I can't believe this," he thought to himself. "He's actually forgiven me . . ."

"Well of course he couldn't have done it," Calvin snarked, his eyes narrowed and rolling in dismissal. "Not if he's smart." He pointed at Zach. "He knows full well that I'll kill him if he dares pull any further funny business against Susan again, or against any of my other friends for that matter. And he knows that, if I fail to do that, he'll end up either expelled, in jail, or both."

Zach's heart sank, and he hung his head once more. "So much for that little bit of hope," he thought bitterly to himself.

"And furthermore," Calvin continued. "I do believe we both know someone _much_ more likely to be behind this, assuming there's anyone in this room who is in fact behind Susan and Diana's absence." He pointed at Charlotte. "And she's sitting right next to the bastard you were just now willing to blame."

Daniel looked briefly in Charlotte's direction, looked away with a thoughtful expression on his face, then glared back at Charlotte, and then looked at Calvin. "You're right," he said to Calvin. He pointed at Charlotte. "If there's anyone apart from Zach that I should likely expect to be behind all this, it's her."

At this point, Charlotte found herself once again feeling fit to explode. "Silena," she thought to herself bitterly, "you and Ashley are so fired!" And as drastic as such a thought might have sounded, the fact that whatever nutty idea Silena and Ashley had used to ensure Diana and Susan's absence that had seemed so delightfully successful not too long ago was now going horribly off the rails.

"Guys," said Mr. Schuester, clearly trying his best to restore order before it got out of hand entirely. "There's no need to blame anything, or anyone, for this absence. I'm sure Susan and Diana are fine. And for all we know, they just plain weren't able to come after all."

"Without telling me?!" Daniel and Calvin roared angrily at the teacher in unison.

Zach chuckled. "Dude, no homo!" He grinned cheekily.

Calvin snapped his head, black eyes boiling with rage, and Zach's grin faded as he promptly regretted his badly timed joke and ill choice of words. Calvin snarled, and started to snap up to his feet with his fist drawn back to punch Zach, only for Daniel to snap his hand onto Calvin's shoulder and stop him. "Calvin," he growled. "Not now."

Calvin jerked himself free from Daniel's grasp, snapped his head to face the dark-haired boy, and snarled like a dog with his teeth gritted and eyes still narrowed. After a tense few minutes, Calvin took a deep breath, exhaled, and turned around to face Mr. Schuester's direction once more.

The teacher himself took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Ok," he said. "Now that all that drama's out of the way. . ."

"No."

Mr. Schuester gaped incredulously at Daniel, as did everyone else in the choir room. "Excuse me?"

"No," Daniel repeated. He lifted his head to face Mr. Schuester, gray eyes showing unrelentingly how serious he was at that moment. "I know what you're about to suggest Mr. Schue, and I'm telling you right now that that's not gonna happen . . . not yet."

"Danny," Charlotte said as she tried to extend her hand towards his shoulder from behind.

Daniel snapped his head to face her with a look of annoyed rage on his face. "My name's Daniel! Get that through your head!"

"No need to be rude to her," said Zach.

"I have every right to be rude to her you fucker!" Daniel yelled. He pointed at Zach. "And if you actually thought with your head instead of your dick, you'd agree with me!"

"Daniel," Mr. Schuester began patiently.

"Like I was saying before these two idiots interrupted," Daniel said to Mr. Schuester while still looking right at Charlotte and Zach. He turned around, standing up from his seat in the process. "This glee club session is officially on hold until Calvin and I come back here with Susan and Diana."

"Damn straight," Calvin snarled in agreement. He got up from his seat just in time to start following close behind Daniel as the dark-haired boy started making his way towards the choir room door. "Come on Hobbes." The dog snarled, got up to his feet, and promptly followed his master as Calvin and Daniel proceeded to walk right out of the choir room and down the hallway in the direction that they knew would lead back in the direction of Susan and Diana's lockers.

For what seemed like an eternity, everybody else in the choir room were too stunned by what had just happened to speak, move, or similarly react. Eventually, Dunlap managed to break the silence by saying, "Did they just walk out on us?"

"They just walked out on us," Darren replied.

The gleeks all looked at each other, and then at Mr. Schuester. Brad and the band members, likewise, directed their gaze at Mr. Schuester. The teacher sighed, shook his head side to side, and looked directly at his 9 students who hadn't just now abruptly up and left the room. "Well guys, you heard your male leads. The session is now on hold. Anything you wish to discuss in the meantime while we wait for them to come back?"

. . . . .

"Diana!" Daniel yelled. "Can you hear me? Where are you?"

"Susan! Susan!" Calvin shouted as he and Hobbes followed close behind Daniel in their search through the McKinley High hallways.

"Diana!" Daniel yelled.

"Susan!" Calvin shouted.

Hobbes even went so far as to bark loudly as if trying in his own way to call for Susan or Diana alongside Calvin and Daniel.

For several minutes, the two boys and the dog continued making their way through the hall in search of the two missing New Directions female leads. And by the end of those several minutes, Calvin was very clearly seeming half panicked despite is equally strong hope that Susan and Diana were alright. Hobbes, sensing his master's nervousness, also looked unsettled by the matter.

"Good grief," said Calvin. "Where are they?"

"Wherever they are," said Daniel, clearly determined and not about to give up, "we're going to find them. Of that, I can assure you."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, back in the janitor's closet, the still bound and gagged Diana and Susan continued struggling like mad to get free from their bonds while shrieking and grunting irritably through the duct tape sealing their mouths. And the fact that they were both still no closer to getting free then before and now quite late for glee club left them both quite unhappy about their current situation.

"Ggghhhddd gggrrrfff," Susan growled as she looked at the seemingly tired out (and still no closer to being free) Diana. Her blue eyes narrowed irritably above the tape. "Hhhrrrhhhmmm hhhppp Dddnnnhhhnnnhhhmmm!"

Diana glared right back at Susan, her green eyes blazing angrily above her gag. "Hhhmmm tttrrrmmmhhhnnnggg! Hhhmmmkkkhhhmmm?!"

"Tttrrmmm hhhrrrdddhhhrrr," Susan grumbled. She shook her head side to side and squirmed against her bonds yet again. "Hhhmmm dddnnnttt wwwnnnttt hhhppphhh tttmmm bbbmmm ssstttkkk lllkkk ttthhhppphhh hhhlll dddmmm!"

Diana sighed, and leaned her head back against the wall behind her. "Hhhmmm kkknnnmmm," she mumbled through the tape on her mouth. "Jjjsssttt lllttt mmmhhh rrrggghhhnnn mmmhhh hhhnnnhhhrrrgggmmm fffrrrppphhh."

Susan grumbled angrily, and leaned her own head backwards against the wall behind her in irritation. "GGGDDD!" she roared through her gag. "Wwwhhhlll nnnvvvrrr gggttt hhhttt hhhvvv hhhrrr hhhttt ttthhhppphhh rrrhhhttt!"

Diana was just about to try to give her friend a muffled effort at cheering her up when the two girls heard the feint sound of two familiar voices speaking from a distance outside the closet they were locked in. They directed their attention towards the area the sound seemed to be coming from, eyes widened and ears listening intently. After a tense moment, the noises got louder as whoever was speaking clearly got closer to their location, and it took all of two seconds for the girls to recognize that the voices were indeed Daniel and Calvin. And judging from the fact that Calvin was there, and double confirmed by Calvin's own words they heard, Hobbes was coming along as well.

"I think we're near their lockers," they heard Daniel's voice say.

"I see the lockers," piped in Calvin's voice. "Right there down that hall. Come on."

The sound of the boys' voices was enough to reenergize the girls, and they promptly leaned forward towards the closet door, eager to try to get Daniel and Calvin's attention.

"Dddnnnhhhmmmlll!" Diana screamed frantically, the tape on her mouth muffling her cry. "Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr!"

"Ccclllvvvnnn!" Susan yelled equally frantically, her own cries likewise muffled by the black duct tape blocking her mouth. "Hhhbbbppphhh! Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr! Gggttt hhhvvvrrr hhhrrr nnnhhhwww!"

Then they heard words that brought them uncomfortable pause. "What are you doing?" asked Calvin. "I said come on!"

"We're going that way," said Daniel's voice.

"What do you mean that way?" said Calvin. "We're going _this_ way! Towards Diana and Susan's lockers!"

"And make a clear waste of searching time?" said Daniel. "I don't think so."

The two girls glared in the direction of the voices, eyes narrowed in irritation and disbelief.

"Hhhrrr yyymmm sssrrrhhhmmmhhhmmmppphhh?" Diana grumbled.

"Yyyvvv gggttt tttmmm bbbmmm kkkdddhhhnnnggg mmmhhh," Susan mumbled.

"Waste of time?" said Calvin. "On what evidence?!"

"Um, hello?" said Daniel. "Can you not see how there's clearly no one present in this hallway you're so insistent on searching?"

"Just because we can't see anybody doesn't mean there isn't anyone in there!"

"There's nowhere in this hallway for anyone to be apart from out in the open!"

"Hello!? There is a janitor's closet right there!"

"Wwwlll tthhnnkk Gggddd sssmmmhhhnnn hhhsss hhhmmm bbbrrrnnn hhhnnn hhhppphhh hhhddd tttdddmmm," Susan grumbled.

"And why the Hell would they be in a janitor's closet!?"

"I don't know, but I do have an idea! How about we actually _check_ this hallway, try to _look_ in the janitor's closet, and, if they're there, we ask them!?"

"Don't get smart with me!"

"I'm being dead serious!"

"Hhhnnnddd yyymmm hhhrrr hhhlllppphhhmmm bbbhhhmmmhhhnnnggg hhhdddhhhmmmhhhppphhh," Diana grumbled.

Susan snarled in agreement, and the two girls started kicking at the door with their bound feet, growling and hissing viciously through their gags.

"Hhhmmm!" Diana howled. "Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr yyymmm ffflllsss!"

"Wwwhhhppphhh ttthhh mmmtttrrr wwwpphhh yyymmm?!" Susan roared. "Qqqttt hhhccctttnnnggg lllkkk hhhdddhhhmmmhhhppphhh, gggttt dddnnn hhhrrr, hhhnnnddd gggttt hhhppphhh hhhttt hhhvvv hhhrrr!"

After another couple seconds of the two girls trying to make their presence in the janitor's closet known while listening to the two boys arguing, they finally regained reason for hope when they heard Calvin tell Daniel to be quiet.

"What do you mean be quiet?" Daniel asked. "I'm trying to . . ."

"Quiet!" Calvin hissed. "I think Hobbes might have heard something."

"Well of course he heard something," Daniel grumbled spitefully. "He's been hearing us arguing these last few minutes. . ."

"Shush!"

Diana, eager to not miss the newfound opportunity to properly get the boys' attention, lifted her bound feet and slammed them against the closet door as hard as she could. The impact was enough to produce a medium volume thumping noise.

"Ok," said Calvin two seconds later. "It looks like he may have heard something again."

"You sure about that?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, I am," said Calvin. "I think. Hold on, let me see if Hobbes hears it again, or if any of us hear it."

"Well I certainly didn't hear anything," Daniel responded snidely.

"Yeah well, I'm not asking you," Calvin snarked back.

Susan growled irritably, rolling her eyes above her gag. "Hhhmmm fffrrr Hhhvvvnnnsss ssskkk!" No sooner had she let out this irritated muffled roar when she lifted her feet and pounded her feet against a nearby set of brooms, mops, and other supplies, causing them all to fall to the closet floor with a loud clatter.

. . . . .

At the sound of a loud clatter, Hobbes bolted down the hall, barking his head off cacophonically. Daniel and Calvin found themselves paused in both words and in movement for all of two three seconds. They looked each other in the eyes. "Definitely heard that," they both said in unison. They dashed off to follow Hobbes. And soon, much to Calvin's immense smug satisfaction, Hobbes came to a stop right in front of the door to the janitor's closet he'd pointed out not too long ago and barked at it just as he'd been doing while running down the hall towards it.

Daniel and Calvin came to a stop by the closet door. Calvin instantly banged on the door. "Hello!" he shouted. "Is anyone in there?!"

"Wwwrrr hhhnnn hhhrrr!" yelled a muffled girl's voice from the other side of the door.

"Yyyppphhh Ccclllvvvnnn!" shouted a second muffled girl's voice from the other side of the door. "Hhhtttsss hhhppphhh! Gggttt hhhppphhh hhhttt hhhvvv hhhrrr!"

Calvin smiled. "Yep, that's definitely them."

"How can you tell?"

Calvin turned his head to face Daniel, a smug wolf-like grin on his face. "Oh trust me pal, I've heard Susan's voice so many times unmuffled, I am more than capable of recognizing it even when it _is_ muffled. And since I clearly recognize her even now, then that other voice is likely Diana."

For a moment, Daniel was uncertain how to respond. But then he decided to just go with it and trust Calvin on this one. "Ok then, I guess we'd best get this open then." He grabbed onto the door knob for the closet and tugged at it. It did not budge in the slightest. "And it's locked," he grumbled. He rolled his eyes. "Naturally."

"Not for long," said Calvin. "Step aside."

Daniel found himself doing exactly that without thinking, much to his surprise. Hobbes, seemingly quite aware of what his master planned to do himself, also moved aside. Calvin leaned his head back towards the door, hands cupped around his mouth. "Susan!" he yelled. "We're gonna get you out of there! But I need you and Diana to move as far back as you can!"

The sound of muffled grunts and squeaks, plus the sound of shuffling, clinking, and clanking from inside the closet, came out from behind the locked closet door for the next few seconds. After the noises stopped, Calvin left a tiny pause hang in the air before he asked, "You ready?"

"Yyyppphhh!" yelled Susan and Diana's muffled voices in unison.

"Awesome," said Calvin. "Just give me a second now!"

He took a step back, leaning backward and bending and tensing his right leg as if in preparation for a kick. And sure enough, Calvin then proceeded to lift his right leg and foot and deliver a thundering stomp kick to the locked closet door. And lo and behold, the door burst open and slammed against the left closet wall right where Diana had been positioned before she'd moved back out of the way. The two girls, it has to be admitted, briefly flinched from the sight and sound of the locked door suddenly bursting out of position and slamming right against the area where Diana had originally been positioned. But then their shock wore off, and they directed their gaze towards the now very much open doorway in time to see Calvin still standing there, with Daniel and Hobbes watching from the sides.

The sight of the still bound and gagged Diana was enough to get Daniel's attention, and he hurriedly ran into the closet towards her. "Diana!" he screamed. At the exact same time Daniel entered the closet and got down on his knees to start helping Diana get free, Calvin and Hobbes entered the closet as well and started to work on helping Susan.

While Daniel began with untying the rope binding Diana's hands, Calvin wasted no time in making sure to yank the tape off of Susan's mouth first while Hobbes gnawed and chomped at the ropes binding her hands.

Susan gasped reflexively from the sensation of finally being able to open her mouth again combined with the all too natural sting from how painfully swiftly Calvin had removed her gag. "Thank God," she managed to say once she finally regained her breath sufficiently enough to speak as Hobbes continued to gnaw what remained of the rope binding her hands and Calvin got to work on untying her feet. She looked straight at Calvin. "What took you so long?"

At the exact same moment Susan asked this question, Hobbes finished gnawing the rope in his mouth sufficiently enough for Susan's hands to be freed, and the dark-haired girl reflexively extended them out from behind her back and started impulsively helping Calvin in getting her feet untied.

"Never mind that," said Calvin as he and Susan made short work of the rope that had been used to bind her feet together. The blonde boy grabbed her by the hand and pulled while Hobbes pressed himself against Susan's back to give her an additional push upwards back on her feet. "Just be glad we've finally come and gotten you out of here."

"What he said," Daniel agreed as he proceeded to finally undo the last knot in the rope that had been binding Diana's hands together. Diana promptly swung her hands back out from behind her back and ripped the duct tape off of her mouth, gasping reflexively just like Susan had.

"I'll say," she said in agreement once she'd fully regained her own speech capabilities. She looked over at Daniel. "Though I will admit, you could definitely have done without that senseless arguing from earlier."

Daniel seemed to wince upon hearing these words. "You heard all that huh?"

Susan snorted. "Heck yeah," she said. "And for that matter, I still think that we were loud enough that you really ought to have heard us screaming for you in here while you and Calvin were bickering about how to best continue your search for us, and am surprised now that you're surprised we heard you arguing."

"Ah yes," said Calvin. He directed his gaze at Daniel, and the dark-haired boy's heart sank in embarrassment at the sight of the clear 'See? I told you,' look in the blonde boy's black eyes.

Daniel sighed, for the autistic boy had, as of now, been proven very much in the right several times over. "Indeed," Daniel agreed. "And yes, we are sorry about that."

"What he said," said Calvin, his smug look already gone. "But we can worry about that matter some more later. Right now, we need to get ourselves, and you two, to the choir room. And for that matter, an idea as to just how you ended up tied up, gagged, and locked in this closet wouldn't hurt either."

Susan snorted, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, I _know_ you'll enjoy hearing the story Diana and I have on that matter. . ."

The sight of Diana's widened eyes and frantic pointing towards the direction the two boys had entered the hallway from (incidentally pausing in her efforts at helping Daniel untie her feet) was enough to get Susan to stop talking, and convince Susan, Hobbes, and the two boys to direct their gazes in that very direction just in time to see Ashley and Silena walking down the hall towards them, evidently having just entered the hallway not too long ago, and clearly talking about some random topic and not at all paying attention to or aware of what was going on at the janitor's closet.

Miraculously enough, it took all of two seconds after the arrival of the two cheerios for Calvin to connect the dots. Daniel's own eyes also narrowed angrily. And nightmarishly enough, even Hobbes looked just as angry as his master. Calvin took a running start out the closet and towards the cheerios. "YOU!"

The two cheerios were jolted out of their conversation in shock, and they gaped in the direction right in front of them just in time for their eyes to widen and mouths to close in horror at the now quite frightening sight of the enraged Calvin now barreling straight towards them while Daniel charged along right next to him. At the exact moment that the two cheerios began shaking in their shoes and nervously stumbling in place without fully leaving their position, the angry Calvin only further confirmed who he and Daniel were gunning for by yelling "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"

Mere seconds after Calvin yelled this, Ashley and Silena were finally able to snap themselves into turning around and running away, screaming in fright as the angry Daniel and Calvin chased after them, the furiously snarling and barking Hobbes dashing along behind the two boys, and the two very girls they'd initially kidnapped and locked inside the janitor's closet following close behind the dog. And as if to really sink in just how much hot water the two cheerios were now in, the encouragement spouted off by the two girls and Hobbes' snarling and barking were largely overshadowed by Daniel's unnaturally loud inarticulate scream of rage and Calvin's equally unnaturally loud, and just as unnervingly life-like, t-rex-like roar that were unleashed as they initiated their chase against the two cheerios.

. . . . .

"Can we please just start the class now?"

Mr. Schuester let out a theatrical sigh, clearly exasperated, and Zach's heart sank.

"No," the teacher insisted. "You heard what Daniel said Zach. This lesson is on hold until he and Calvin return, hopefully with Susan and Diana."

"You were willing to start it not too long ago without Diana and Susan you know," said Amber.

Mr. Schuester sighed again. "I am well aware of that Amber," he said. "But at this point, with all four of the leads absent, and the current circumstances behind these absences, it is best I just respect Daniel and Calvin's wishes and have us keep waiting for them."

"I guess that means I won't be able to just up and leave this stupid room unless Danny Boy and Animal still haven't returned by the end of the recess session," Charlotte grumbled sarcastically to herself.

"That is exactly what that means," Mr. Schuester promptly said without missing a beat. "Among other things."

Charlotte glared at the teacher. "Oh really?" she asked spitefully. "Like what?"

Mr. Schuester had just opened his mouth to answer when the air was suddenly split with the sound of two loud voices yelling, "HELP!"

For a brief moment, everyone in the choir room gaped incredulously at the still open entrance to the choir room, stunned and dumbfounded at the sudden shouting they'd just heard. Then they dismissed the noise and redirected their attention back to the matter they'd been focusing on before hearing said shout.

But then the air was split with shouting once again. "CHARLOTTE! HELP US!"

At the sound of this, everyone in the choir room directed their attention towards the choir room entrance once again just in time to see none other than a seemingly quite panicked and terrified Silena Townsend and Ashley Manning bolting down the hall and right past the choir room door. The two terrified cheerios were followed mere seconds afterward by none other than a clearly furious Daniel and Calvin, who unleashed an apoplectic scream and volcanically pissed off t-rex roar (respectively) in perfect unison as they chased the two cheerios. The two boys in question had only just gone past the open door and out of sight of the choir room occupants when an absolutely seething Hobbes barreled past the door as well, snarling, slavering, and barking with rage. And mere seconds after Hobbes had bolted past the open door, none other than a pissed off Diana and Susan came bolting past the door themselves.

"You're gonna wish you'd never been born once Daniel gets his hands on you two sluts!" Diana shrieked in rage as she and Susan rushed past the open door and out of sight.

"Get them Calvin! Get them!" Susan's voice roared encouragingly from past the door after she and Diana had vanished from the choir room occupants' sight.

"Well they found Diana and Susan," said Darren.

"Indeed," Amber agreed. She and Naomi exchanged a look, a silent message passing between them. The two sophomore girls turned their heads and directed a meaningful look towards Charlotte. "And perhaps _you_ could explain what reason they'd have to be so pissed off right now at your two right-hand bitches?"

Charlotte groaned exasperatedly, and hung her head. Granted, she was _technically_ responsible in some way for whatever it was that had gotten her precious Danny Boy and his Autistic right-hand man so angry at her 2nd and 3rd in command. But nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel both insulted and disheartened at the fact that the two sophomore girls had been so quick to assume she was to blame. The fact that the rest of the gleeks, including Zach, turned their gaze to look at her alongside the two sophomore girls didn't help in the slightest. "Why is it always me?" she thought to herself bitterly.

. . . . .

Ashley and Silena kept running as fast they could through the McKinley High hallways, panting and gasping in terror as they tried desperately to escape from the four furious gleeks and single apoplectic dog chasing after them. The fact that Calvin continued to blare out t-rex roar after t-rex roar only further intensified their already strong fear. "I never thought that I'd end up living the full Jurassic Park t-rex chase experience," Silena thought to herself, "and by the hands of a _human_ no less!"

Ashley, meanwhile, had other things on her mind. And as the two cheer leaders continued to run, Ashley briefly snapped her head towards Silena, an angry look on her face briefly replacing her scared look. "I _told_ you this was a bad idea!"

It took all of Silena's willpower not to explode in anger or laugh at the hilariously bad timing behind Ashley's airing out her grievances. "Yeah well," she said, "you can lay on the recriminations all you want; AS SOON AS WE'RE NO LONGER RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES!"

"YYYYAAAAAHHHH!"

"BBBBBOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!"

"BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!"

"Yeah, good idea," Ashley promptly agreed, her fearful look instantly returning to her face at the sound of Daniel's inarticulate scream, Calvin's latest t-rex roar, and Hobbes' seething rapid fire barking.

The two cheerios and their pursuers managed to run right past the entrance to another hallway. Silena and Ashley were so focused on staying ahead, however, that they failed to notice Calvin swiftly point his finger in the direction of the other hallway, or hear him yell "Take that route!" For that matter, they also failed to notice Hobbes instantly react to his master's command, just as swiftly turn around and skid to a halt, and then lunge into running down the other path. The two girls, seemingly paying no mind to the deviation Hobbes had taken from the initial chase path, ran right past the entrance to the hall the dog had entered just like their respective best male friends had done, continuing to scream out their encouragement.

The two girls made it all the point where they only had ¼ of the hall to run down before they could turn to run down another hall. But then they reflexively skidded themselves to a halt with frightened and shocked screams at the sight and sound of a barking Hobbes leaping out of the very hallway they'd been so prepared to use to continue their effort at escape and then come barreling straight towards them from the direction opposite his master and the other humans pursuing the two cheer leaders.

The two cheerios frantically looked forward and back, and then proceeded with despairing whimpers to slide themselves to the side so that they had their backs against a nearby wall right as Hobbes and the four enraged gleeks came to a stop together right at their approximate location and turned around to face them, blocking them off from any chance at escape.

As they gazed at the five furious faces glaring and snarling at them, the two cheerios nervously grinned. "Um . . . hey there," said Ashley.

Silena chuckled, likewise nervous. "Nice day today. Isn't it?"

Calvin snorted. "You have 30 seconds to improve our mood." He pointed at Hobbes. "Or I let Hobbes have an impromptu feast upon your toes."

"Such a level of violence will not be tolerated, or necessary."

The four angry gleeks, single likewise angry dog, and two nervous cheerleaders turned their heads in the direction this new voice had come from just in time to see none other than Mr. Schuester and all the other gleeks, Charlotte and Zach included, standing nearby.

Daniel groaned, rolled his eyes to Heaven, and directed an annoyed glare at the crowd of new arrivals. "And when, may I ask, did you arrive at this area?"

"Evidently, just in time." Mr. Schuester folded his arms across his chest, his eyebrow raised as he continued to watch the scene before him. "May I ask just what is it that's happened here to get you to threaten to have your dog bite off and eat the toes of these two girls?"

Calvin snarled, and stomped over to the area directly in front of Mr. Schuester. The autistic boy took a deep breath, exhaled, glared at Mr. Schuester, and then abruptly directed his glare towards Charlotte, grabbed her by the lapel and yanked her forward. Charlotte had just gotten her breath back, regained her balance, and directed an angry glare at Calvin when the autistic boy pointed his finger at her. "You," he snarled, "are going to explain, right now, why it appears that your two right-hand airheads over here are responsible for Daniel, Hobbes, and I finding Susan and Diana tied up, mouths taped shut, and locked in a janitor's closet!"

The eyes of the other gleeks, and Mr. Schuester, promptly widened. Even Zach looked stunned, and joined in with the others as they proceeded to direct shocked gazes towards a surprisingly equally stunned looking Charlotte. Charlotte then gritted her teeth, clenching her eyes shut as well. "Good Godfrey," she thought to herself in annoyance. "Of all the things Silena and Ashley could have done to try to help me out today, they picked something as drastic as _kidnapping_? God!" She opened her eyes, now looking humiliated and irritated, opening her mouth to speak.

"It was our idea!"

Mr. Schuester, Hobbes, and the gleeks all looked over at Silena and Ashley. Silena nodded her head as if to confirm what she'd just said. "That stuff you just mentioned?" she said to Calvin. "That was our idea entirely."

"Yeah," Ashley agreed. She pointed at Charlotte. "Charlie here? She's only deserving of like 33% of the blame. The remaining 66% is entirely on me and Silena!"

Both Charlotte and Silena mentally facepalmed at how Ashley had just now nullified Silena's entire effort at getting Charlotte completely absolved of blame for the incident. The rest of the gathered crowd members gazed intently, some of them with narrowed eyes, at Silena and Ashley.

"Go on," Calvin growled.

Ashley took a deep breath, exhaled, and then continued. "Like I said, Silena and I? We're 66% responsible for the incident being carried out, but the actual idea behind the incident was 100% our responsibility!"

Calvin raised his eyebrow, clearly confused. "That makes absolutely zero sense."

Silena groaned, rolled her eyes, and promptly broke in. "I'll simplify it for you before my friend makes you hurt your brain." She pointed at Charlotte. "Today's Charlotte's birthday, and Ashley thought it would be especially nice of us to offer our services in helping her achieve victory in her little quest."

At the sound of this, Daniel groaned, rolled his eyes to Heaven, and then sighed heavily in irritation. "Why am I not surprised?" he thought to himself.

Calvin thought to himself, and then nodded. "I see; do continue."

Silena complied instantly without thinking. "Like I said, her idea was merely for us to offer Charlie assistance in her quest. I, however, was the one who thought out the exact nature of how we'd attempt to carry out said assistance."

"What she said," Ashley piped in. "I was just the girl who decided that it was worth a shot to merely provide assistance to Charlie. Going so far as to resort to kidnapping for the sake of getting Charlie's competition and her best gal pal out of the way? That was entirely Silena's idea."

Silena let a brief grin of amusement come on her face. "That part was kind of fun while it lasted."

She promptly regretted her words when everyone else, including Ashley and Charlotte, glared at her venomously.

"Fun?" Diana hissed. "You call snatching us away from our lockers in the hall, tying us up, taping our mouths shut, and locking us up like that in a janitor's closet fun? Are you serious?"

"You know," Susan grumbled, "Diana and I are more than willing to subject you two whores to the exact same treatment and let you test out just how much fun it actually is." She let a devious grin come on her face. "You've gotta admit, that would be pretty darn karmic."

"Enough," said Daniel, clearly annoyed with the deviation the discussion had just taken. He glared back at the two 'subordinate' cheerios. "Just finish the explanation."

Silena and Ashley snapped back to attention. "Right, sorry," said Silena. "Like we were saying, the actual incident you've gotten so angry about, and not entirely without good reason, is on me and Ashley." She hung her head and sighed, cursing under her breath at how Ashley had thrown Charlotte under the bus not too long ago and essentially forced her to now let Charlotte be dug down even deeper. She directed her gaze back at the four angry gleeks who'd been chasing her and Ashley. "But like Ashley also said," she directed a brief sidelong 'I'm gonna kill you for this' glare at the cheerios' overall 3rd in command, and then returned her gaze towards her former pursuers, "the only reason we even carried out my actual idea was because of how, as per Ashley's wishes and idea, we asked Charlotte for permission to attempt to help her out with her quest in the time between 1st and 2nd period, and she said yes."

Silena took another deep breath, hung her head, and sighed. She lifted her head back up to face the group once more. "But know this," she stated. "Charlotte had no idea whatsoever about the exact details of my idea. She only knew the overall outlining gist behind it. Not even Ashley knew the full details of what I'd planned until we were in position to carry it out and I deemed it ok to tell her them." She then winced as she found herself remembering yet again a certain not so minor detail. "And she was not entirely happy herself with those details when she _did_ become aware of them; if that, you know, makes anyone feel any better."

Charlotte sighed, facepalmed, and exhaled irritably. She then gestured dismissively at the other non-cheerio members of the group. "Go ahead and leave," she said. "Clearly, this is something I'd best go ahead and get over with now. No need for you lot to be dragged further down into it now that you've gotten the explanation you wanted and the obligatory kick out of seeing me get screwed over in the process."

"Are you really sure you want to be alone. . ."

"Yes. I'm. Sure. Skinner." She turned her head to face him, eyes open and glowing in an almost owl-like fashion that looked quite terrifying in her current angry glaring mode. "GO!"

Zach gulped. "Yes ma'am," he whimpered before he turned around, and started making his way back the way the rest of the gleeks had come. After a while, including several moments of silent consideration, the rest of the gleeks apart from Charlotte, Hobbes included, chose to go ahead and depart as well. Even Mr. Schuester, reluctantly, chose to depart and leave Charlotte to whatever business she now deemed necessary for her to do involving her two cohorts in the cheerios, but not without reminding her how she now had only about 10 minutes left of recess. But as he left, he couldn't help but sigh, grit his teeth, and likewise be irritated as he felt a horrendous headache start to take form over the craziness and drama he'd just now had to endure. He was now strongly considering cancelling the after-school glee club session for today just so he could have a much-needed break from the almost quite literally headache inducing drama that his glee club work seemed so insistent on thrusting upon him this week.

 **Another chapter done ladies and gleeks! BOY! I hope you enjoyed this one and leave plenty of reviews ^_^ (remember, I require a minimum of 1-2 reviews (ZERO FLAMES!) in order to be capable of posting the next chapter (upon its completion of course)). That being said, I again hope you liked this chapter (and if you have any trouble figuring out just what the heck Diana and Susan were saying during certain parts (cough, cough, you know which parts) of this chapter, feel free to ask me for a translation (if you wish for one of course ^_^)). For that matter, I was also initially having this chapter be one single subsection longer. But in the end, I have decided to have said subsection moved to a later chapter (so that I could finally get this damn good chapter finally posted for our mutual enjoyment ^_^). Again, hope you all enjoyed, and that you leave plenty of feedback ^_^. Peace out!**

 **Coming up Next: Time for a brief interlude in which we check on a certain low ranking Senior class Korean American cheerio who is more than a little in love with Raj and her and Raj's mutual sophomore class gay best friend. Just how are they doing right now? Let's find out next time ya'll! ^_^**


	18. Unlucky in Love

**Hey everybody! MAN, it's been SO long since last time I updated. By God, I really thought that I'd have had this finished and posted sooner than now. But hey, such is life. On the other hand, at least you all will no longer have to wait for this current new update! And in this update, we take a brief break from the 'main cast' and take a look at what our favorite senior class low ranking cheerio and gay sophomore water boy have been up to lately. Sound like a worthy read? I certainly hope so. That being said, here's me hoping you read, review, and enjoy.**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you guys again . . . I do not own Glee. And I most certainly do not own the song used in this chapter either. Get that? Got that? Good. Now, let's get on with the story shall we?**

 **Chapter 18:**

 **Unlucky in Love**

At around the same time that all the insanity had been going on in and out of the choir room with the gleeks and the highest-ranking cheerios, one of the lower ranking cheerios was having a somewhat less flashy day of her own. Kimberly Chung sighed, and hung her head as she sat cross-legged on the lowest bleacher on the left side of the gym. So far, she was having an ok day, but she could honestly just as easily have been having a much better one.

She hung her head, sighing bitterly. At this moment, much like she'd been doing for the entire past summer, she was thinking about her current situation regarding Raj. She sighed. Even now, she still couldn't stop thinking about him, or of all the drama that had popped up in her life ever since that one fateful day 3 months prior.

She briefly felt on the verge of tears as she remembered that terrible day, plus the cruelly contrasting 3 happy weeks that had occurred prior to that day. Three weeks prior to that day, she had finally mustered up the courage to do something that she now wished she'd had the bravery to do in the summer after her freshman year, or perhaps even _during_ freshman year. She'd confessed to Raj about how she'd developed romantic feelings for him.

She closed her eyes, and nodded her head up and down as she remembered the fateful day that she'd finally confessed. She could remember how nervous she'd felt about the whole matter, not to mention how much she'd been dreading the very likely possibility for rejection that she'd been so certain Raj would respond with due to his having already been successfully dating his friend Bailey for one full year, plus three months, by that point. She then remembered how surprised, and later delighted and hopeful she'd been when Raj had instead not immediately responded favorably or unfavorably, had taken the time to get further details out of her (details she'd only been all too eager to give), and had honestly admitted that he wasn't certain what to think but was willing to think things over and perhaps give things a chance with her. And for the 3 weeks that had followed, Raj quite honestly _had_ indeed been giving her a chance, and it had felt to her as if she'd at that point genuinely been his girlfriend in all but name.

But then she remembered the one terrible day where all that bliss had come to a cruel crashing downfall. And to make it worse, it had actually started off seemingly quite pleasantly enough. But then the moment had come at the end of the school day after she and Raj had rendezvoused together in a hallway that had quite romantically turned out to be empty, and had proceeded, after a short talk, to kiss and even start engaging in a small make out session. They had only been engaging in said make out session for at least 2 or 3 minutes before they were interrupted by the arrival of none other than Bailey and Cody.

Within minutes, things had rapidly fallen apart for all involved. As Kimberly had been quite devastated to find out, Raj had, unlike her, not fully committed to the idea of her and him being together in that way. In fact, he hadn't even broken up with Bailey before initiating his recent 'trial run' with Kimberly. As Raj had explained a couple days later, he had in fact handled the matter the way he'd been doing for those past 3 weeks as a means to try to compare and contrast her and Bailey, as well as under the hope that doing it this way would allow him to soften the blow and let Bailey down gently in the event that he ended up turning her down and breaking up with her in the end for Kimberly. But of course, for the sake of this intended goal, he had told neither Kimberly, Bailey, or his and Bailey's other close friend Cody about his plans, let alone about how he'd been 'interacting' with Kimberly over the past 3 weeks from before that fateful day. Needless to say, the results had not been pretty.

Admittedly, she at first had held onto a tiny flare of hope when Raj had later made it clear that he was not going to necessarily completely give up on the possibility of being with her, but wanted to have some time to think things through and work things back out with Bailey and Cody before he made a final decision and gave her a definitive answer. At that time, she'd expected for all that to have been taken care of within a couple weeks, or maybe even at least by the end of the month that had followed the day in which he'd gotten busted with her. But now, at least 3 months had passed, and not only had she still not gotten her promised straight answer, but Raj himself had clearly both not only still not yet worked thing back out with his two friends, but also seemed to still be leaning heavily towards Bailey than towards her. Granted, she had no solid proof to indicate that this latter assumption was true. But even so, what she'd seen and heard of Raj and his current behavior and antics regarding Bailey were hardly reason for her to be hopeful for her own chances. And the very possibility of her being rejected, and in such a cruelly indirect fashion no less, was something that made her feel more than a little saddened and filled with despair.

She sighed, and shook her head side to side. She really wished that she could avoid spending so much time thinking about her current situation with Raj. She really did. After all, it wasn't like she didn't have any other important problems that were just as deserving, if not more so, of her concern and attention at the moment.

As she had this thought, her eyes narrowed in anger. Now that she thought about, there was one especially serious that had arisen in her life quite recently. To be precise, it had come into existence this past Monday. And it was all coach Sue Sylvester's fault. As of that Monday, per Coach Sylvester's decree, the after-school cheerio practice sessions had been extended to last longer than usual. Granted, this news, and the changes that had occurred so far in the timing, hadn't resulted in all that much difficulty. However, knowing coach Sylvester, Kimberly had a very bad feeling that, as the year went by and the closer the time for the Nationals championship for the cheerios came, the coach would likely end up gradually increasing the amount of time that practice sessions lasted up till the point that it would greatly interfere with Kimberly's attending chorus club. This possibility, understandably, was not something that Kimberly was happy about. Not one bit.

"Hey Kimberly."

Kimberly lifted her head, and let a smile briefly touch her face at the sight of her young gay sophomore friend, Sid Weber. Much like her, Sid was an especially good friend of Raj's from middle school. And despite the age gap between them and how little they'd spent sharing the same school together as a result, this friendship had remained strong all the way up till now. At least, it had remained strong between Kimberly and Sid anyway. In Raj's case, the friendship appeared to have somewhat weakened over the days that had followed that fateful day and his subsequent efforts at getting back in Bailey and Cody's favor. Of course, despite this factor, Kimberly herself still held onto the belief that Raj was still a nonetheless good friend to both her and Sid, even though Sid himself had occasional doubts.

"Everything ok?"

Sid sighed, and hung his head. Kimberly's heart promptly sank, her brief smile fading in the process. "What do you think?"

Kimberly groaned, and hung her head, shaking it side to side in the process. "Jesus Christ Sid," she began. She looked up at the boy. "What is it with you? Half the time, you're working to rebel against even the slightest of expectations, even at times in which conforming is the only thing preventing you from being killed; and the other half, you're cowering in fear and not even lifting a finger to defend yourself. Can't you ever make up your mind?"

"It's not that simple Kimberly," said Sid. He sighed, and shook his own head side to side. "Honestly Kimberly, if I could fight off Abby and Joanna, I would. Not to mention I'd do the same to all the other people in this lame school who subject me to the more verbal abuse that the cheerios replace with physical abuse."

"Oh sure," Kimberly grumbled. "And I'll bet you'd probably fight off all the dangerous things and people you've ended up getting on the bad side of during your moments of rebellion; not to mention have utterly made you regret said rebellions the painful way. Isn't that right?"

"Hey," Sid snapped, pointing his finger at Kimberly. "Don't make jokes out of that! How was I supposed to know that rebellion in those situations would be as dangerous as they turned out to be?"

"The fact that it's happened so many times before them, that's how!"

Kimberly got up from her seat, pointing her own finger at Sid. "Honestly Sid, do you never learn? Why can't you follow the simplest of orders?"

"And prove myself the very wimp every cheerio here apart from you thinks I am by turning down challenges?"

"What challenges?!" Kimberly damn near shrieked. "Half the time you, quote on quote, take challenges, you're deliberately violating recommendations made from genuine concern for your safety! Honestly Sid, look at the idiocy you've taken part in for the sake of your oh so special rebel liberty! Seriously! Letting people walk all over you one minute and deliberately endangering yourself despite genuine concerns for your safety from others the next minute? You're gonna get yourself killed one of these days!"

Sid clenched his fists, letting out a shaky and tense breath to keep calm. "Kimberly," said Sid. "I know I've screwed up in the past. God knows how many times I've screwed up. But trust me on this, one of these days, I will get my act together, ok? I just need more time."

"You've had plenty of time," Kimberly snapped. "You should have learned by now and gotten your act together last year! The year before that even!" Sid clenched his fists, gritting his teeth in an effort to avoid losing his temper. "Just think of what Cameron would say!"

 _That_ was enough to get Sid to snap. "You leave Cameron out of this!"

"Why?" Kimberly asked. "Lord knows nothing else will get your head out of the clouds and convince you to take your issues seriously!"

"I take them plenty seriously!"

"Then why don't you _act_ like you take them seriously?" Kimberly retorted.

Sid took a deep breath, and then exhaled irritably. "Look," he said. "Like I said, I need time. . ."

"Which you've had plenty of already," Kimberly hissed.

"Well you've had plenty of time too!" Sid pointed his finger at her accusatorily. "God knows how long it's been since you've last made any headway with Raj! What's taking _you_ so long to get _those_ issues taken care of? Huh?"

Kimberly was very noticeably silent upon hearing this, and Sid promptly took advantage, pointing his finger at her and glaring. "Yeah that's right! I know full well how you're hardly doing any better with your Raj situation then I am with my own issues! Why don't you go ahead and take care of your own business before you get all in my face on mine!? God knows you could use the extra time that you waste on my own problems!"

Kimberly gritted her teeth, trying her best to keep herself together.

"Especially considering how you could use have even less time to waste on stuff like chorus club and my own issues when you could be trying to work out your own problems!"

The two could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed this last shout. Kimberly gaped at Sid in a mixture of shock, rage, and sadness. Sid, meanwhile, had a face that had very abruptly morphed from angry to wide-eyed and stunned at what he'd just said. After what seemed a far longer amount of time than the amount that had actually passed, Sid finally managed to lift his hands up and say, "I . . . I'm sorry . . . that was mean."

"Oh . . . you think?!"

Sid winced upon hearing this. He'd already been quite aware of how much of a line he'd crossed with his last angry comment quite a few seconds before hearing Kimberly say the line in question. "Kimberly, honest to God, I am _so_ sorry. . ."

"You'd better be," Kimberly hissed. She stood up from her chair, her finger pointing accusingly at the sophomore. "You think I don't _know_ about all these issues of my own I have to deal with!? You think I don't _know_ that I could be trying, keyword being _trying_ , to get them taken care of instead of _trying_ to help you!? You think I don't _know_ how much _more_ difficult it could soon get for me to get my issues taken care of, _or_ , quote on quote, 'waste my time' with chorus club as a result of Coach Sylvester's current plans for extending the amount of time for cheerios' practice to last?! Huh?! Do you?!"

Sid mentally sputtered and tried desperately to muster up the power to respond.

"Well guess what pea brain! I _do_ know all that! I _do_! I know all that so flipping much I wish I could forget as easily as you seem to be so arrogant as to believe right now! I get reminded of it all every single day without even trying!"

"Kimberly. . ."

"And at least you've got me _trying_ to support you and help you! Who's tried to help me with all the shit I have to deal with since that fateful day last year? Not you! Not my fellow cheerios! Not Cameron! My own parents have barely made any effort either! And Raj certainly hasn't helped either one of us!"

Kimberly lifted her hands skyward in exasperation. "Because Lord knows how nice it would be for him to stop focusing on patching things up with Bailey and Cody and devote just a single second towards meaningful interactions with you and I again for once! And at the rate he's going at solving his own problems and how much luck the two of us have had in our efforts with our own issues, it's not like we're get our problems solved, or any assistance or interaction with Raj, anytime soon; let alone this school year!"

For another few seconds, silence hung in the air between Kimberly and Sid after Kimberly finished her bitter tirade. Then, she shuddered, now clearly struggling to keep herself together, sat back down on the bottom row bleacher, and then lowered her face into her hands and started crying.

Sid calmly walked over to the bleacher and took a seat next to Kimberly. After waiting a few seconds or so to let Kimberly allow some of her sadness and tension to leave her system, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok Kimberly," he said. "Really it is. Everything will be fine. I'm sure it will."

Kimberly sniffled, lifted her head, and glared tearfully at Sid. "Oh really?" she asked in a mixture of sadness and spite. "This from the guy who just threw all my effort at trying to help you in my face and trivialized the only thing in this damned school apart from Raj that gives me any happiness?"

"Yes, from that guy," Sid admitted. He hung his head, sighing in regret. "And again, I really am sorry."

Kimberly sighed, and turned her head to face the opposite side of the gym. Sid turned his head to face the same direction, also sighing in the process. The duo spent about a minute staring numbly and silently at the opposite side of the gym. "This stinks," Kimberly finally managed to say.

"Tell me about it," Sid grumbled.

Kimberly sighed, and hung her head. "I wish these issues of mine could be so much easier to solve, not to mention already taken care of by now."

"Me to," said Sid.

Kimberly snorted bitterly. "You saying that about my issues? Or yours?"

"Both," Sid responded without hesitation. He nodded his head. "And one of these days, those issues _will_ be taken care of. And by God, one way or another, those issues _will_ be solved by the end of this school year. I don't know how, but I know they will."

Kimberly snorted, and lowered her head to face her lap and hands. "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it happen."

Sid sighed, and hung his head. Truth be told, as irritating as it was for Kimberly to put a dark cloud on his newly spoken aloud hopes, he also still couldn't help but feel regretful at how he'd potentially been directly responsible for putting her in such a negative mood in the first place with his earlier tirade against her.

Then he lifted his head, a determined look on his face, and he drew his IPod out from his backpack. "You know what Kimberly," he said. Kimberly looked to her right to see what Sid wanted to say. "I know just the thing for us to do right now before recess ends. If anything, a nice little bit of music ought to get us back into a somewhat good mood."

Kimberly snorted, and rolled her eyes. "Well that certainly depends on more than one factor."

"Yes," Sid admitted. "But even with those many factors, there's only one way to see if all the right criteria are met." He selected the tune he wished to play. "And that being said, I hope you're ready." He pressed play, swiftly setting his IPod down and getting up from his seat. By sheer luck, he was able to fully stand up to his feet and be in the ideal position in time for when the music started. And when the time came for the vocal portion of the song to begin, the resulting performance went something like this:

 _(Sid:)_

 _I know your insides are feeling so hollow  
And it's a hard pill for you to swallow, yeah  
But if I fall for you, I'll never recover  
If I fall for you, I'll never be the same  
(Scene Break: Roller Skating Rink)_

 _I really wanna love somebody  
I really wanna dance the night away  
I know we're only half way there  
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way  
(Scene Break: McKinley High Hallway)_

 _I really wanna touch somebody  
I'll think about you every single day  
I know we're only half way there  
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way  
(Scene Break: Gym)_

 _(Kimberly:)  
You're such a hard act for me to follow  
Love me today, don't leave me tomorrow, yeah  
(Kimberly and Sid:)_

 _But if I fall for you, I'll never recover  
If I fall for you, I'll never be the same  
(Scene Break: Skating Rink)_

 _I really wanna love somebody  
I really wanna dance the night away  
I know we're only half way there  
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way  
(Scene Break: Hallway)_

 _I really wanna touch somebody  
I'll think about you every single day  
I know we're only half way there  
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way_

 _Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
(Sid:)  
I don't know where to start, I'm just a little lost  
I wanna feel like we never gonna ever stop  
(Kimberly:)_

 _I don't know what to do, I'm right in front of you  
Asking you to stay, you should stay, stay with me tonight, yeah  
(Kimberly and Sid:)  
I really wanna love somebody  
I really wanna dance the night away  
I know we're only half way there  
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way  
(Scene Break: Skating Rink)_

 _I really wanna touch somebody  
I'll think about you every single day  
I know we're only half way there  
But you can take me all the way, you can take me all the way  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
You can take me all the way, you can take me all the way, yeah._

 _(Scene Break: Gym)_

About several seconds after the performance ended, and with it the song, Kimberly and Sid stood absolutely still in the center of the gymnasium, eyes closed as they continued to mentally bask in their enjoyment from both their performance and the roller skating they'd imagined themselves doing at the local roller skating rink a couple times over the course of their singing and dancing for the performance. Not to mention, naturally, the fact that they'd also very much been imagining themselves singing the song to Raj and Cameron, despite the very real lack of the two being present in their imagination sequences to have occurred during the performance.

The two friends opened their eyes, and then relaxed. At this point, Kimberly couldn't help but admit that she did feel somewhat better, just as Sid had expected. Granted, part of her still felt plenty bummed about both her situation with Raj and the potential difficulties to befall her later in the year as a result of Coach Sylvester's plans for the cheerios. But for now, she felt reasonably more content and hopeful of things working out in the end.

Sid, clearly aware of this, let a toothy grin come on his face. Then his grin faded into a simple smile, and he placed his hands on Kimberly's shoulders in a companionable gesture. Kimberly lowered her head slightly to directly face the much shorter Sid, and the gay boy said, "There's no need to worry Kimberly. Not today. One way or another, we will both have all our issues resolved. And I do mean all of them."

Kimberly let a small smile come onto her face, and she nodded her head. "Hell or high water?"

Sid chuckled, and nodded his head. "Hell or high water."

The two friends chuckled, shaking their heads side to side in amusement. Sid checked his watch. "Well," he said. "I suppose we'd best start on our way to our next class. I don't know about you, but I'd rather avoid the post recess rush if at all possible."

Kimberly chuckled. "I know the feeling buddy," she said. "Let's go." And at that, the two friends departed from the gym, both of them still very much aware of the issues that were even now still lying heavily upon their minds, but also feeling somewhat more hopeful about their chances at resolving them then they had before their performance together. And for now, the performance in question was something that would stay strictly between them. After all, while they most certainly did not feel for each other the way they did for Raj and Cameron, they were nonetheless good friends in their own way. And sometimes, just plain good friends just had their own little things to enjoy and keep strictly between themselves. And for them, this performance, quite simply put, was one such thing.

 **And just like that, another chapter done. Once again, I hope you all read and enjoyed, and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, no less than 1-2 reviews must be provided for this chapter in order for the next chapter (upon completion of course) to be posted. And even with this specific quota in mind, I highly (and I mean HIGHLY) recommend that everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) who reads this (Guest or otherwise) leave a review. I know that a bunch of you may find the idea of leaving a review and thus opening yourself (and the review) open to criticism or mockery or whatnot uncomfortable. But please, trust me, this is more than worth the risk. Seriously, in case it's not bloody obvious enough, writers on this website like myself and others need, (I mean NEED) reviews and feedback! Honestly, for us writers, sometimes trying to get people to get out of their shells and leave ANY feedback at all is like pulling teeth or digging for needles in haystacks. Seriously people, as long as you like what I'm writing (and ESPECIALLY if you don't violate the anti-flame rule for my stories), then just go to the review section at the bottom of this page, type in your thoughts (and leave them as simple OR as detailed as you want), and TELL me so! Seriously people! I know that more than 3 people (the current amount I've got actively reviewing this story) read this story. And by God, if THIS isn't enough to convince you that it's perfectly acceptable all those amongst you readers who HAVEN'T left any reviews to FINALLY leave reviews, then I don't know what will. And that being said, I'm sorry if this little tract rubs anyone the wrong way.) Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and leave plenty of feedback. And for that matter, I especially you like having had gotten to spend time with good ol' Kimberly and Sid this chapter for that matter. Again, hope you had fun and leave plenty (and I do mean PLENTY) of reviews ^_^.**

 **Coming up Next: Charlotte has finally gotten things discussed and sorted out with her 2nd and 3rd in command after the whole fiasco they brought about back in chapters 16-17, and is in a somewhat less happy mood because of the whole mess. At least, that is, until she ends up meeting up with what seems to be a sympathetic fellow student who appears to be more than capable of helping her fulfill her wishes in time for it to serve as a real birthday treat. And later that day, she decides to seemingly both apologize for her highest ranking subordinates' actions AND extend an offer of friendship to both the two female leads AND the rest of their fellow New Directions girls. Question is, is this a genuine apology and offer of friendship? Or is it something else entirely? And what about the 'sympathetic fellow student' who appears to be somewhat behind Charlotte giving this supposed apology and friendship offer? Is he really what he says he is? Or is he someone else entirely? So many questions. Let's hope next chapter allows just a LITTLE light to shine on these matters!**


	19. An Offer of Friendship Or is It?

**Hey ya'll! Sorry I took a little longer then I expected. But nonetheless, here's a new chapter! And in this new chapter, Charlotte has gotten things straightened out with Ashley and Silena, and is subsequently not in quite so happy of a mood. However, things seemingly begin to look up for her when she ends up encountering another McKinley High student who is apparently sympathetic to her situation. And after this encounter, she goes so far as to apparently try to make up for the incident at recess and extend an offer of friendship to the rest of the glee club girls. Question is, is this apparent offer of friendship from Charlotte genuine? Or is there some sort of ulterior motive? And regardless, what about the apparent 'sympathetic student' that Charlotte has now met up with? Is** ** _he_** **truly as trustworthy and sympathetic as he claims to be? Or does he have an ulterior motive of his own that not even Charlotte knows about? So many questions. Let's hope we can get a few answers in this new chapter! And for that matter, here's to hoping you read, review, and enjoy!**

 **A/N: But first, just to remind you all real quick, I do not own Glee. All I own are my OCs.**

 **A/N: Furthermore, as of now, I have 8 more chapters left to write and post for this story. Once those 8 chapters are finished and posted, I will be taking another hiatus from Glee fanfiction. Why? To put it simply, the same reasons as my last hiatus from Glee fanfiction. To elaborate, my fans in the Teen Titans fanfiction community will probably have been kept waiting long enough by the time I've finished this story (and at least one, if not more than one, may or may not be starting to get a little antsy from waiting). That being said, once again, onward with the fic! ^_^**

 **Chapter 19:**

 **An Offer of Friendship . . . Or is It?**

Charlotte Thornton was not entirely as happy as she'd initially hoped to remain for the entire day. Certainly not at the current moment anyway. She sighed as she walked somberly through the hallway to reach her locker and get herself ready for her 3rd period class. Not too long beforehand, she'd managed to talk things out with Silena and Ashley and get things settled and worked out properly. And of course, Silena and Ashley (but particularly Silena) had apologized for going overboard in their efforts at helping her out in her 'quest' and they'd all agreed that they were still friends and that just maybe they could still have other chances at attempting to help her in less extreme fashions at some point or other in the future, not to mention to only even _consider_ mentioning the incident again (let alone actually mention it) in the most absolutely dire or necessary of circumstances. But despite this, she couldn't help but feel dejected and unhappy at the very real pitfall that had just occurred against her on her own birthday.

She came to a stop in front of her locker, hung her head, and sighed. "Happy birthday to me," she whispered to herself dejectedly. She turned around to directly face her locker, calmly entering in the combination to open it up. At this rate, she hoped more than ever that the mini celebration that evening and the 'official' celebration with her family and friends that weekend would more than make up for how rather unpleasant her actual birthday itself was currently shaping up to be. She finished her business at her locker, closed the door, locked it, and then sighed, hung her head, and turned away to go to her classroom.

Charlotte failed to notice, however, that she was being watched. As it so happened, another student was in the exact same hallway, watching the dejected birthday girl as she departed from her locker and made her way to where her 3rd period class would be. This student, a sophomore boy, had actually taken note of several things over the course of time he'd just spent watching her. And now, he had an idea on just how he could potentially put this information to good use. Acting strangely cautiously and quietly for a supposedly ordinary student, he drew out a cellphone, dialed a number, and placed the phone up to his ear. After a few rings, the call went through.

. . . . .

Charlotte Thornton still seemed noticeably quiet and withdrawn as she walked through the hallways later that day to go to the cafeteria for lunch. As far as she could tell, precious little could get her out of her current mood within the immediate future. In fact, she was now doubting that even _cheerio_ practice that afternoon could cheer her up. And considering just how much she enjoyed her work as a member of the cheerios, that was saying something. She sighed. "That's life for you," she mentally sighed.

"Hello."

Charlotte turned her head to look behind her, eyes widened in shock at the unexpected voice from behind her. Then her eyes narrowed in suspicion at just who was behind her. "And who might _you_ be?"

To be fair, the boy standing behind her right now truly didn't look like anyone she'd ever seen period, let alone amongst the McKinley High student body. Charlotte's eyes remained narrowed in suspicion as she looked the boy over from where she stood. From what she could gather from his appearance, her best guess was that he was a sophomore, if even a student at McKinley High. He was a good couple feet or so shorter than her for one thing. And judging from his bearing and overall atmosphere, she was quite certain that he was younger than her as well.

The boy seemed to wince, indicating in Charlotte's mind that he was clearly nervous. "As should any student of his standing when in my presence," she thought to herself smugly. The boy seemed to shakily calm himself down, taking a series of equally shaky deep breathes in the process. And while he did this, he went so far as to place his hands together in a ludicrously stereotypical kung fu master style, a gesture that looked especially ludicrous in light of how the boy was wearing a pair of sunglasses indoors that were such a dark black that it had to be a miracle for him to even be able to see anything with them on, had very unnaturally gold colored blonde hair that she was almost certain was a wig instead of his natural hair, and was dressed in a dark purple hoody that looked as if it would have been far more at home in Justin Bieber's wardrobe then on the pipsqueak currently standing before her.

The boy finally seemed to fully get his breath, and he looked straight at her. "Look, I know you probably find it more than a little weird that I'm suddenly trying to talk with you. . ."

"Probably?" Charlotte asked. "Seriously? More like _definitely_." She folded her arms across her chest, glaring in irritation. "I mean really, was the fact that I literally asked who the Hell you were not too long ago not enough of a hint to you?"

The boy winced. "Ok I'll admit, stupid question on my part. . ."

"Yeah, no shit," Charlotte hissed. She rolled her eyes derisively. "And with how you clearly still expect me to take you seriously even now despite both that, _and_ how ridiculous you look, I'm now starting to wonder what force on Heaven, Earth, _or_ Hell could have possibly gotten me to even want to ask, let alone know, who the Hell you are."

The boy winced again, further reducing his already low credibility in Charlotte's eyes. "Charlotte," he said, "I know this looks bad."

"That's Ms. Thornton to you, peasant."

Charlotte turned away, tossing her hair over her right shoulder in the process. "Good day." She started very purposely walking away, swiftly putting distance between her and the boy in mere seconds.

The boy, in stark contrast to how much he'd been stumbling in his words not too long ago, snapped instantly into action. He hurriedly ran to catch up with her. "Charlotte, wait!"

"La-la-la, I'm not listening," Charlotte said, her right hand raised and sarcastically waving without even turning her head to face the boy.

"I mean it," the boy stammered, now clearly in a panic. "I really need to talk to you! Honest, I do!"

"La-la-la-la-la-la-la, still not listening," Charlotte said, still not even bothering to turn her head to face the boy as she continued walking away from him.

"It will be worth your while," the boy yelled, now clearly getting desperate. "I promise!"

"La-la la-la-la, la-la la-la-la, you are an idiot. La-la la-la-la, la-la la-la-la, still not listening," Charlotte said, yet again without turning her head to face the boy.

In that instant, the boy lost his temper. He snapped to a stop, stamping his feet down on the floor and snapping his left pointer finger before shouting, "I KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO ALWAYS FAIL!"

The sheer volume of the unexpectedly decisive and angry shout was enough to stun Charlotte into coming to a stop. The actual words the boy had said, however, were what caused her to continue standing still in wide eyed shock. She had no idea why, but the specific phrase the boy had just said had really struck a nerve inside her. "I . . . I don't know what you're talking about."

It took all the boy's willpower not to gasp in relief. "Don't lie to me," he said, and in a surprisingly compassionate and sincere sounding tone considering the words he was saying. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. And you know what? That's ok, because I know how it feels."

Charlotte turned her head to face the boy once more, her face indicating that she was half angry and half saddened. "How what feels dweeb? Being a top dog stuck in a herd of losers?"

"Wanting something," said the boy. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then continued. "Wanting this one thing. This one special thing. More than anything you have ever wanted anything else. Wanting it more than you can say. More than you can understand. More than you can ever hope to explain. Wanting that one thing, just that one thing. Wanting it so badly that you will literally try anything, _anything_ , to obtain it. Starting small, then going bigger, and bigger, and bigger. And with each day that passes with that one thing still not in your grasp, you become increasingly more desperate, and more extreme as you proceed to try even harder. And the entire time always giving it your all, regardless of how extreme or otherwise. And most of all, how even after God knows how many tries, how many plans, how many attempts, always, just _always_ still finding that one thing you've been working so hard for remaining out of your reach, sometimes through a complete fail that never even gets close, and other times through something where you could have sworn that you were just _so_ close to finally, finally, _finally_ getting it at last."

Charlotte said nothing. She literally could not say anything. "What can I say?" she thought to herself. "He's absolutely right."

The boy pointed at her once more. "I could keep going on and on describing this all day," he said. "But no matter how much you might deny it, you know I'm right. You know I'm telling the truth. And that's ok." He lifted his hands up as if in a gesture of peace. "Because like I said," he continued, "I know _exactly_ how that feels, just like you."

For what seemed like an eternity to both Charlotte and the boy, the head cheerio remained standing where she was, head turned and gazing at the boy in half sadness and half anger. Then she sighed, hung her head, and then turned her entire body to face him. "So?" she asked. "What if you do know how it feels?" She shook her head. "We can't both have it."

"Well that's good," said the boy, not even bothering to hide his relief over having gotten Charlotte's attention. "Because the thing you want isn't the same as the thing that I want. Heck, the thing I want, and the thing you want? They couldn't be more different, and I sure as Hell don't swing the same way as your water boy. . ."

He paused, closed his eyes, and winced somewhat. "Not like I have any problem with people his orientation anyway. . ."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, but this time still seemingly on the verge of tears as opposed to annoyed, and then moved as if about to turn around and start leaving again.

"Look the point is," the boy stammered, "we may want different things, but that doesn't change the fact that both of us want something more than we can possibly say, and we've both been willing to try, and actually _have_ tried, literally _anything_ we could think of to obtain that goal . . . only in the end, no matter how close, nor how far, to fail."

Charlotte directed her gaze back at the boy, eyes clearly still on the verge of tears. "So, what?" she yelled. "What does that have to do with anything? How will that make any difference for either of us?!"

The boy took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked straight at Charlotte. And as if to emphasize how serious and sincere he was being, he lifted his hand and lowered his sun glasses to reveal a pair of warm and serious brown eyes. "I may have constantly failed at achieving the goal I've been wanting to achieve," he said. He took another deep breath, and then exhaled once more. "But that doesn't mean that I can't help someone else who's similarly suffered." He nodded his head. "You can go ahead and resume your trip to lunch if you want. I won't stop you, especially not now that I've managed to say what I needed to say the most in this situation. But trust me, like I said, it will be worth your while."

Charlotte only continued to stare at the boy. "How?" she asked. "What could you possibly do that would allow me to succeed after so many failures I've made on my own devices? And one just not too long ago with help from two of my own best friends? If _they_ aren't enough to allow me to succeed, how could _you_ possibly do any better?"

"Just give me a chance to explain, and you'll see," the boy said. "Trust me."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that on your mere say so?" she asked. She shook her head side to side. "I barely even know you."

"I know," the boy admitted. "But I mean it, you can trust me. And besides," he indicated the entire area around them, but with particularly emphasis being placed on a nearby wall clock in the midst of his gesturing, "what I have to say right now? It won't take too long at all. Honest, it won't. You'll still have plenty of time for lunch, _and_ preparing for the class to follow lunch, once I'm finished. You have my word."

For what seemed like an eternity, Charlotte considered what the boy had said. Granted, she was still far from 100% willing to just up and trust him the way he seemed quite hopeful of her doing, not to mention any more willing to believe that he truly could do all that much to help her in the way he said he could, regardless of how much he could empathize with her situation. But despite all this, there was just this one small part of her that wanted so much to believe that what this boy was saying was true. And for some inexplicable reason, she was starting to find that tiny part of her becoming increasingly stronger in its urges compared to the rest of her mind.

Of course, much later in her life, Charlotte would _still_ look back on this moment with a tiny twinge of regret at the very least. In fact, she'd even go so far as to make jokes at her own expense later in her life over how stupid she'd had to have been to make the decision she'd end up making at this current moment in her junior year of high school, and on her own birthday no less. But at that particular moment in her life, she was still a teenager, newly turned 16, and still relatively innocent. She most certainly didn't yet have the higher level of wisdom, experience, or overall knowledge on how to properly read people and understand the workings of the world that she would have later in her life as an adult. Neither had she yet truly developed the sizable number of strong friendships she'd have later in life that would allow her to properly avoid making other bad decisions in the future. And of course, like she and the boy had made quite clear, she was rather blinded by her overwhelming desire to finally achieve the goal she'd been working so hard to accomplish, was desperate, and was more than willing to try just about anything. And besides, today was her birthday. And as much as things had gone from relatively pleasant to somewhat of a downer, things couldn't possibly get _too_ much worse than they'd already gotten; especially not _today_ of all days. Right?

And so, in that instant, she made one of the most unwise decisions she'd ever make in her lifetime. She directed her full gaze towards the boy, her blue eyes now no longer as at risk of tears. "I'm listening."

. . . . .

Diana was in a very good mood that day after her last class period for the day. In fact, she and Susan, not to mention Bailey, Amber, and Naomi couldn't stop laughing as they recounted what had happened during recess that day. Granted, Susan and Diana were still more than a little miffed at Silena and Ashley for kidnapping them, not to mention at Charlotte for effectively giving them the all clear to do such an action in the first place, plus heart warmed at how very vocal Daniel and Calvin had been in insisting that the glee club wait for them before beginning the recess session. But nonetheless, the exact antics that had unfolded in the choir room during Calvin and Daniel's efforts, plus the very event that had made those antics necessary in the first place, were also pretty funny now that everyone had gotten a chance to calm down and revisit the incident from a new perspective. And thus, they were now spending time together having a good laugh.

"So, let me get this straight," said Susan. She chuckled. "You're saying that Daniel and Calvin just up and walked right out of the choir room?"

"Oh, you heard correctly girl," said Bailey. "Mr. Schuester was just so utterly ready to start the lesson without you and Diana. But your good old friends Calvin and Daniel were like 'screw that' and walked right out to look for you, even going so far as to deliberately label the lesson as 'on hold' until they came back with you two."

"And Mr. Schue _let_ them do that?" Diana asked.

"Sure did," said Naomi.

"Yeah," Amber agreed. "Though granted, probably only because he was too shocked to really do anything to stop them."

Susan chuckled. "This has got to be one of the funniest things that's happened around here this week." Diana burst out laughing in agreement, the other four girls almost instantly joining in.

"I see you're all having fun."

The girls stopped laughing, turned their heads, and narrowed their eyes upon sight of none other than Charlotte standing nearby. "Oh, it's you," said Susan.

Charlotte winced. Truth be told, she'd already had a bad feeling that this interaction between her and the other girls in glee club would be difficult long before she'd agreed to try it out during her earlier talk with her mysterious apparent sympathizer. In fact, now that she thought about it, part of her still wasn't entirely certain if she fully understood just what it was that the boy had planned. And it certainly didn't help that there were several elements that even now made her feel either suspicious or guilty.

Aside from something or other about having a little talk with Diana, and with the rest of the girls in the glee club for that matter if necessary, the boy had been unsettlingly vague on just _what_ he planned to do to supposedly 'make things easier for her where Daniel was concerned'. Secondly, for the sake of what the boy had in mind, she'd found herself essentially forced to lie to Coach Sylvester in order to get out of taking part in that afternoon's cheerios practice session. Even now, she couldn't help but feel guilty and self-hateful for both missing out on cheer leading practice _and_ lying to Coach Sylvester about her reasons for missing out, particularly since she _still_ hadn't yet made her final decision on the coach's offer from Monday.

She shook her head side to side to clear her head. "Keep it together," she told herself mentally. She looked back at her fellow girl gleeks, clasping her hands together in the process. "Look, I get you're probably not all that thrilled to see me right now after what Silena and Ashley pulled during recess. . ."

"Well you've certainly got that right," Diana grumbled.

"Damn straight," Susan hissed. She glared at Charlotte. "Heck, it wouldn't matter if that unpleasantness had happened or not, we'd still not be that thrilled to see you right now. Sorry, but that's just God's honest truth."

Charlotte mentally sighed. "This is going to be even harder than I thought," she thought to herself. And considering how difficult a large number of stuff she thought would be pieces of cake had turned out to be in the past, the fact that she was currently having the kind of thought she was currently having was _really_ saying something.

She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Look," she began. "I know that I've got a long way to go before you can trust me. But right now, since today's my birthday, let's just say that you're currently lucky enough to be dealing with me at my nicest." She lifted her head to properly gaze at the other 5 girls in front of her. "And if it's not too much, there's somewhere I'm about to drop by real fast now that school's done for today, and you guys are free to tag along if you want."

The other 5 glee club girls looked at each other, and then back at Charlotte. At the sight of all 5 of them having their eyebrows raised, Charlotte instantly knew she still had some work to do. "And why would we want to hang out with you?" Amber asked.

"What she said," Naomi agreed.

The 3 juniors amongst the group nodded their heads in agreement.

Charlotte took a deep breath, and then exhaled once more. "I understand full well how I've behaved, and that it's hardly endeared me to you," she began. "But even with all the stuff I've done before, even I have my limits." She nodded her head. "And I'm not ashamed to admit that what Silena and Ashley pulled today during recess was probably going a little too far."

"Yeah, no shit," Susan grumbled.

"That being said," Charlotte continued, seemingly ignoring Susan's latest comment. "I was thinking, since I'm currently now in my nicer mode as a result of both that incident _and_ the fact that today's my birthday, I was thinking that I could openly allow you all the chance to hang out with me for a little bit as a way for me to make it up to you for what happened during recess today." The other girls seemed to start thinking to themselves.

"It's not like there's anything else you need to be doing right now," said Charlotte. "I mean, Mr. Schuester _did_ cancel today's afternoon glee club session to have a break from all the drama after what happened during recess today. And given how recently he gave _that_ bit of news, I'm pretty sure you haven't yet gotten the chance to tell your parents and inform them of any need for them to pick you up from school early."

The other 5 girls seemingly paused in their thinking. Charlotte certainly had a point there.

"And it shouldn't take too long," Charlotte continued. "I mean, as far as I can imagine, worst case scenario is that by the time we're done and back, it should be pretty darn close to around the time your parents should be expected to arrive to pick you up and take you home." She nodded her head, and then gestured her hands to her sides as if to indicate a 'win-win'. "I mean, sure, you don't absolutely _have_ to come with me if you really don't want to. But hey, like I said, I'm in one of my nicer modes right now, and I'm feeling in the mood to make up for Silena and Ashley going overboard earlier today. So . . . um . . . what do you say?"

The other girls looked at each other again, then back at Charlotte, and then proceeded to gather around in a 'huddle'. Charlotte waited patiently as the other girls proceeded to whisper to each other, clearly discussing her offer and whether they'd take it up. Of course, despite the small series of sales pitches she'd just recently made, she still wasn't entirely certain they'd agree to her offer.

She certainly wasn't wrong to think so either. "I'll admit," Diana whispered. "Yes, she has brought up a couple valid points. But valid or not, that still doesn't change the fact that she's hardly proven herself trustworthy any time before now." Susan, Naomi, and Amber all promptly nodded in agreement.

Bailey, on the other hand . . . "I think we should give it a shot."

The other four girls gaped at Bailey. To say that they were stunned would have been a serious understatement.

"Are you crazy?" Amber asked. "How could you possibly think that this is a good idea?"

"I must agree," said Naomi. She shook her head side to side, and then glared at Bailey, her opaque blind blue eyes proving to make a surprisingly scary look. "No good could possibly come out of this, especially not after everything that she's done in the past, what her right hand whores did just this recess, and how she's only just now apparently trying to make friends with us just plain out of the blue."

Bailey shook her head side to side. "Guys," she began. "I know this hardly sounds palatable. . ."

"Oh," said Susan, folding her arms across her chest and directing a sarcastic glance to the side. "You think?"

"No kidding," Diana growled. She briefly directed a sidelong glare at Charlotte, and then looked right back at Bailey. "No one in their right mind would trust Charlotte. And right now, I daresay it seems as if you're the only one amongst us who _isn't_ in her right mind."

Susan nodded her head in agreement. "I couldn't agree more; trust me, there is no force on Heaven, Earth, _or_ Hell that could possibly get me to spend any more quality time around her then absolutely forced upon me by necessity."

"Yeah," said Amber.

"What they said," said Naomi.

Bailey took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Look, I get that you're not sold on the idea." The other five girls rolled their eyes. "But think about it," Bailey continued. "Isn't this sort of the kind of thing Mr. Schuester would want us to do right now?"

The other girls promptly stopped rolling their eyes and gave each other awkward glances. Bailey certainly had a point there.

Bailey nodded her head. "Like I said, it's hardly palatable." She gestured towards Charlotte. "But honestly, surely it's worth taking the risk? For Mr. Schue's sake? And besides, it's not every day that Charlotte reportedly goes into her 'nicer mode'. Can't hurt to at least give it a little test drive, right?"

The other girls thought to themselves some more, clearly acknowledging that Bailey had a fair point while also still clearly apprehensive about the idea that Charlotte had suggested for them. After what seemed like an eternity, Diana finally seemed to come to a decision. "Here's a compromise," she suggested. She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Alright Bailey, if you really think it would make Mr. Schue happy and save his job, then we'll go ahead and give Charlotte a chance this time."

"Thank you," said Bailey.

"But listen," said Diana. "For now, it will only be this chance. And furthermore;" she took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "First sign that something's wrong, we get the heck out. Got that everyone?"

"Sounds good to me," said Susan.

"Loud and clear," said Naomi.

"I'm down with this," said Amber.

"Sounds fair enough," said Bailey.

"Alright," said Diana. She took a deep breath, and then exhaled, clearly bracing herself to grin and bear what she was expecting to possibly come. Admittedly though, at this point Charlotte herself couldn't have possibly guessed just what could have ended up happening within the next hour or so, let alone what actually _did_ end up happening during that time. But of course, in the ignorance that came with not having yet experienced the future, the five girls all broke from their huddle and turned to face the still patiently waiting Charlotte. "We've made our decision."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, that it was worth the wait, and that you leave plenty of feedback (but again, ZERO flames under any and all circumstances). Remember, I require an exact minimum of 1-2 reviews for this chapter. Fail to fulfill this quota, and the next chapter shall be withheld until the quota is indeed fulfilled. Get that? Got that? Good. Again, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one (not to mention, fulfill the review quota required to allow the new chapter to be posted upon its completion).**

 **Coming up Next: Sometime later, at around the time that the girls are supposedly having their friendly little bit of hanging out with Charlotte, the boys in the glee club (or at least the more obviously trustworthy ones at the moment) soon start to get more than a little worried and concerned about just what is going on with the girls, particularly once several unnerving elements are taken into consideration. And before long, they soon decide to head off to make sure everything's alright . . . but not without giving one final metaphorical blow to Zack.**


	20. Something's Wrong

**Hey everyone! Hope you're all ready for yet more glee-ful work! Because here I am with a new chapter! Certainly took me long enough. But at least it got finished within the month right? That being said, hope very much that you enjoy it and find it worth the wait! In this new chapter, the boys are starting to get a feeling that something is wrong over the course of the time that the girls are supposedly 'hanging out'. And soon after reaching this conclusion, they soon get a very unnerving idea of just what might be happening to them and head head off to the rescue; but not without first giving Zack one final push to force him to fully realize just how far he's gone. Sound worth reading? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: But first, I do not own Glee. All I own are my OCs. Got that? Good. Onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 20:**

 **Something's Wrong**

Daniel couldn't help but feel worried as he stood waiting nearby his locker. It had now been 30 minutes since the end of 8th period class. Under normal circumstances, he would be at the choir room attending glee club, and so would, presumably, his fellow gleeks. But today, due to the drama that had unfolded that very recess, Mr. Schuester had chosen to cancel today's after school glee club session. And as a result, Daniel was now hanging around his locker. He wasn't the only boy in the glee club hanging around in that area either. Also present in that same hallway were Calvin, Dunlap, Darren, Cody, and Raj. Hobbes, naturally, was also present alongside his master.

It hadn't entirely been necessary for the boys to hang out together in the hallway after school. In fact, the only reason they hadn't called their parents to inform them of any need to pick them up early was, ironically enough, the very reason they were now starting to get worried. As it turned out, from what the boys had read in some texts from their respective close female companions, the girls of the glee club, Charlotte included surprisingly enough, were all currently hanging out together somewhere. As surprising as it was that the rest of the girls were apparently hanging out with Charlotte, the boys had also been smart enough to consider how likely this very situation could qualify as the very same bonding that Mr. Schuester wanted them all to take part in over the course of the next few weeks. And as a result, for the sake of Mr. Schuester, they'd decided to give Charlotte the benefit of the doubt just this once. And to be fair, thanks to a steady stream of text messages from the girls following the initial ones, the boys had at first had plenty of reason to believe that everything would be fine and that the girls would return safe and sound and ready for them all to be picked up and return home.

Now, however, it had been a full 10 minutes since _any_ of the boys had gotten any contact from the girls, and they were becoming very worried indeed about what was happening to them. To further hammer in how worried they were getting, Calvin had now _thrice_ sent a text to Susan in an effort to see if she would respond, and had not received any reply either of those three times. In short, things were not looking good from their respective as far as the girls were concerned.

"I don't know about you," Cody abruptly said. He lifted his head, his dark eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "But I've waited long enough. At this rate, I'm almost certain that the girls are in trouble. And I for one, am not going to just stand here while Bailey is in potentially dire peril."

"Join the club," Raj stated in a fiercely determined tone. He lifted his right hand, now clenched into a determined fist. "Cody and I may be more like rivals to each other than friends right now, but any harm that comes toward Bailey makes an instant enemy out of both of us."

"Count me in," said Darren as he stood up from where he'd been sitting. "After all, Amber went through enough trouble last year, and that's without counting those tasteless bluff rape threats that she got treated with by that asshole on the basketball team two days ago. I'll be damned if she ends up in yet more trouble without me around to put a stop to it."

"You said it," said Dunlap as he to stood up from where he'd been sitting. "After everything she went through last year, Naomi certainly ain't gonna have any more trauma to deal with this year." He clenched his right fist and lifted it up to his face, red eyes blazing determinedly. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

As Daniel heard this, he couldn't help but agree with the rest of the boys. And with that in mind, he was very strongly considering joining with them for Diana's sake. This conviction was only further strengthened when he heard Calvin voice his own intention to join with them. "You'd best join the club guys," the autistic boy stated, his right fist ramming into his left palm. "Like I've made clear, there ain't no thing, or no one that's allowed to harm or similarly provide negative treatment towards Susan in any way, shape, or form. Not as long as I have anything to say about it." He nodded his head. "And after how narrowly she avoided getting raped two days ago, not to mention how I was nearly _killed_ preventing that from happening, I sure as _Hell_ ain't gonna let any trouble befall her today!" He turned his head to look at Hobbes. "Isn't that right buddy?"

Hobbes snarled, and then let out 7 cacophonic barks, clearly in agreement with his blonde, autistic master.

In that instant, Daniel made up his mind, and he stepped forward to join up with the rest of the boys. The other boys turned their heads at the sound of Daniel's footsteps, smiling at the sight of him coming over to join them. "Count me in," Daniel said confidently, a determined look on his face and his gray eyes agleam with willpower. "I may not know the other girls amongst this club anywhere near as well as I know Diana, but the other girls are your friends just as much as Diana is mine. And as far as I'd like to believe, any friend of yours is a friend of mine." He came to a stop. "And even if that weren't the case, Diana is still my friend. And by God, as long as I'm alive and breathing, there is no way I'm going to consciously allow anything or anyone to harm her in any way, shape, or form. And that includes whatever's going on with her and the other girls right now." He rammed his left fist into his right palm. "We've waited long enough. I say we intervene."

"Yeah!" the other boys shouted in agreement.

"That's what I'm talking about," Darren then said for added emphasis.

Daniel chuckled, and then briefly looked around the area. "But first, all we need to is try to figure out just where they are."

"Let's check the girls' texts," Dunlap suggested, already drawing his cellphone back out of his pants pocket. "Maybe they were able to leave hints for us in their messages before they stopped."

"Good idea," Darren agreed. "Come on guys, let's get to it."

The boys all promptly drew out their phones and started checking the series of messages that the girls had sent them in the 20 minutes that had unfolded before the abrupt radio silence, scanning intently with their eyes for any sign or hint of where the girls might have been heading. After about 2 minutes, four of the boys' eyes narrowed in clear disappointment and irritation.

"Nothing here," said Dunlap.

"Nothing on my end," Darren snarled.

"Same here," said Cody.

"What they said," said Raj.

"I think they're _might_ be a couple hints in Diana's messages," said Daniel. His eyes narrowed in concentration. "Although, with her only providing basic descriptions, they hardly narrow anything down."

"I've got some from Susan," said Calvin. He smiled. "And I do think that these ones sound a heck of a lot clearer."

The other boys promptly gathered around Calvin to try to get a look at the texts.

"What did she say?" asked Dunlap.

"Where are they?" asked Darren.

"What did she say Calvin?" asked Daniel.

Calvin took another quick look at the texts in question. "Well the last one says they were getting close to . . ." He narrowed his eyes as if trying to get a closer look at the words. "Bacchus 24-7 Baseball House?" He raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Who named this place?"

Daniel, Darren, and Dunlap all appeared to share Calvin's confusion. Even Hobbes looked perplexed at the ridiculous sounding name. Cody and Raj however, had their eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Say that name again," said Cody.

Calvin looked at the bespectacled Korean American boy, his eyebrow still raised. "Bacchus 24-7 Baseball House."

At the sound of Calvin's 2nd time saying that name, Cody and Raj's eyes narrowed even further, the Indian American even seemingly snarling like an animal. Daniel noticed this. "Are you . . . familiar with this place or something?"

Cody held up his finger as if to signal for Daniel to wait, and he and Raj proceeded to quickly look up the name on the internet on their phones. At the sight of the exact building that ended up in their search results, and an irrefutable confirmation of their suspicions no less, it appeared to take all their willpower not to blow up in anger. Cody even seemingly had bolts of lightning flashing in his eyes. The 2 Asian Americans exited out of the internet, slipped their phones back into their pockets, and looked back at the other boys.

"It's a crack house," said Raj.

"Not just a crack house," Cody snarled. He clenched his fists. "The exact same crack house that Rachel Berry tricked Sunshine Corazon into visiting in the fall of 2010."

Daniel, Dunlap, and Darren's eyes widened in shock and horror upon hearing all this. Calvin, meanwhile, briefly seemed preoccupied on a different factor.

"Should I be wondering how it is you know that little tidbit?" the autistic boy asked.

Daniel and the 2 sophomores promptly directed incredulous glares at the autistic. "Is that seriously an important question right now?!" they all thought to themselves.

Cody and Raj, however, seemed to think that it wouldn't be any harm to answer this question. "You'd be surprised how many people amongst Lima's Asian American community still remember that incident," said Raj.

"Yeah," Cody agreed. He folded his arms across his chest. "Not to mention how many more people amongst that very community have ended up becoming in the know about it as a direct result of how many people remember it." He shook his head side to side. "The point is, Raj and I are well aware of that place, what it is, and how bad it is. It may not be officially active anymore. But all the people who still live in that area and pay attention can tell that there's still _something_ going on in that place. And whatever it is, there's way it can possibly end well if that hag who's constantly hounding after our male lead has gone so low as to take the girls there."

 _That_ was all the other boys needed to hear. "Well then what are we waiting for?"

Daniel rammed his right fist into his left hand. "Let's get a move on."

"You heard him boys," said Calvin. "Let's move!"

"Bark! Bark! Bark!" Hobbes agreed.

"GUYS! GUYS! EMERGENCY!"

The boys all turned their heads, and promptly narrowed their eyes at the sight of none other than Zack rushing up towards them. The black boy came to a stop, bent over with hands on his knees, and panted heavily, clearly having run very quickly for a long distance to reach them. He lifted his head after getting his breath back. "The girls, they're in trouble.

Zack had just enough time to wince upon sight of the sight of the 7 glares being directed his way when Calvin coldly remarked, "We kind of already figured that out genius."

Zack winced again upon hearing this. "Ok, well, at least let me tell you just where they are . . ."

"Bacchus 24-7 Baseball House," Cody and Raj spoke in unison.

Zack's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know that?"

The other boys promptly narrowed their eyes in suspicion upon hearing this. Daniel even went so far as to raise his eyebrow. "Judging by how you just commented, I believe that's what we should be asking you."

Zack mentally facepalmed. "Well done Zack," he thought to himself. "Now you just made them more suspicious." He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked back at the 6 suspicious other boys and the equally suspicious German Shepherd. "I eavesdropped on Charlotte talking with some sophomore boy earlier, and I overheard them discuss their entire plan."

Darren snorted. "Sounds awfully convenient."

"Yeah," Dunlap snarled. He folded his arms across his chest. "You just _happened_ to be around to eavesdrop on Charlotte and some random dude talking about just what the plan was regarding today's 'hangout session' with the rest of the girls in the glee club and subsequently learn every little detail about it? Yeah, I'm not buying it."

Zack mentally facepalmed once more. "I should have guessed that it wouldn't be that easy," he thought to himself.

Daniel made a 'tsk, tsk,' and shook his head side to side. "Hate to say this pal," said Daniel, his tone and eyes indicating that he was far from sorry, "but they do have a point."

"Yeah," said Calvin. "How are we supposed to know that you're truly innocent in all this? How do we know that you're telling the truth? Hell, how do we know that, assuming you _are_ telling the truth, that you're not in on the whole business with Charlotte and this other guy and didn't help set up this whole mess yourself?"

Zach groaned, hung his head, and shook his head side to side in disbelief. Granted, he knew that Calvin had a fair point. But nonetheless, he couldn't help but feel baffled at just how much Calvin even now _still_ mistrusted him and was willing to suspect him for just about all manner of despicable actions, regardless of their likelihood.

He lifted his head. "Look guys," he said. "I know that I'm far from being in any of your good graces right now . . ."

"No fucking shit Sherlock!" Cody growled.

Zack took another deep breath, and then exhaled. "Look guys, please, just trust me at least this once."

"Trust you?!" Calvin roared. "Why on Earth should we trust you?!"

Zack had just opened his mouth, trying desperately to think up something to say in the process, when Calvin promptly interrupted. "Because believe me, like you just made clear, we've all got zero reason to trust you. And for good damn reason to!" The autistic boy pointed his finger at Zack. "Need I remind you of how you harassed Susan, and were more than willing to try to _rape_ her?!" He leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. "Not to mention how you also tried to strangle me to death when I tried to defend her from you?!"

"Calvin," Zack began, his tone clearly indicating memory and regret of those incidents in question.

"Need I remind you of how you sabotaged my legs?"

Zack looked over at Dunlap, who had his nightmare making red eyes directing a glare of their own towards Zack. The albino boy snarled, pointed his finger at Zack, and continued, "Yeah, you'd better not have thought that I'd forgotten how you both _stole_ my oil can _and_ replaced it with an identical copy filled with superglue! And don't get me started on that heartless 'prank' you pulled on Naomi that day either! I saw you laughing your ass off and pointing at her while she was lying in pain on that hallway floor you slathered up with oil!" The albino boy leaned forward, red eyes narrowed ominously. "You are _so_ lucky that oil was all over that floor that day. Because if it hadn't, I would have run up to you right then and there, and proceeded to permanently flatten your nose, kick out every single one of your teeth, and turn your face inside out to the point of you suffocating all in one go!"

"You said it Dunlap," Darren snarled. The ginger-haired boy directed his own gaze at Zack, his amber yellow contact lens-covered eyes similarly narrowed into an unnerving glare. "And for that matter, need I remind you of those insensitive bluff rape threats you sent Amber's way? Or how you sneered and scoffed at me for trying to defend her? Or how you dismissed Amber's terror and my rage, and your actions that caused them, by trying to pass it all off as some sick joke and telling us to grow a damn funny bone?" He pointed emphatically at his eyes with both of his pointer fingers. "Or, before I forget, how you slathered my backup contact lenses in lemon juice? _Fresh_ lemon juice?" He pointed at Raj and Cody. "If they hadn't helped me get my eyes washed out when they did that day, I'd be eyeless right now! _Eyeless_! How'd you like having _that_ on your conscience you sick bastard!?"

"He's right!" Cody shouted. He pointed one finger at Zack while pointing at his glasses with another. "For that matter, need I remind you how you stole my other pair of glasses and had them flushed down the toilet?"

"Or how you flooded my sneakers with soda while I was in gym glass _and_ applied a very generous coating of fresh red, white, and blue paint on the seat of my assigned desk in the class that followed?" said Raj.

The two Asian American boys leaned closer towards Zack in unison. "Or how you wouldn't stop sending all those asinine texts and similar phone-based harassment to Bailey earlier this week?"

Cody then clenched his fists, his eyes seeming to narrow even further in his rage. "Why should any of us trust you when you can't even be trusted not to shamelessly bully your own kind?"

Zack couldn't help but wince and mentally freeze up as he felt the angry words and savage insults and recriminations stab into him like a harpoon. It took what felt to him like an hour to regain his voice under the harsh scrutiny of the other boys. But regain his voice he did. "Look," he began. "Let me make it up to you. Let me come with you to rescue the girls."

Calvin did a spit take, and then let an incredulous laugh burst out of him. "Come with us?! Seriously?! And risk you sabotaging our efforts and making sure that the girls actually _do_ end up getting fucked up by whatever Charlotte's got planned for them in this latest screwed up scheme of hers?! You must be joking!" The autistic boy pointed his finger at Zack. "If you really think we're that stupid, then you're even dumber then we thought! And considering all the idiocy you've displayed this week up till now, that's saying something!"

Zack winced, opened his mouth, and promptly winced again when he realized that he clearly wasn't getting anywhere. He looked over at Daniel, now clearly realizing just how far he'd gone in that he now only had one person he was absolutely certain he could rely on. And even that person had high likelihood of not trusting him anymore. "Daniel," he said. "Tell them it's safe. You can trust me Daniel. You know me Daniel. You know I can be trusted this time. Honest, you do."

For what seemed like an eternity, Daniel simply stared blankly at Zack. The seconds seemed to be minutes, the minutes seemed to be hours. And the entire time, Zack got increasingly nervous, and the rest of the boys, plus Hobbes, all turned their heads towards Daniel to see just what his final reaction would be. Then Daniel's gray eyes narrowed. "Do I?"

Zack tensed up, his eyes widened. "What?" he asked. "What do you mean?"

Daniel snarled, his gray eyes smoldering with rage. "Let me rephrase that," he snarled. He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I thought I knew you. But now?" He sighed. "Now I'm not so sure."

Zack mentally sputtered and backpedaled, desperately trying to think of something to say.

Daniel pointed his finger at Zack, gray eyes cold and metallic. "But one thing I _am_ sure about is that you are almost certainly not the Zack that I knew." Daniel took a step forward, finger still pointing at Zack, and Zack himself unconsciously cringing backwards in a mixture of fear and despair. "Because the Zack I knew would have never brought things to the point that I'd actually _have_ to question how trustworthy he is the way you have. The Zack I knew would have never gone to the extremes you've gone. The Zack I knew would have never crossed the lines that you've crossed. The Zack I knew would never have committed any of the absolutely _despicable_ things that you've done. And he sure as Hell would have never gone so far as to try to _kill_ someone for . . . for _sex rights_!" At the moment he said those last two words, his voice seemed to momentarily transform into an animalistic snarl of disgust.

Zack couldn't help but wince when he heard the way Daniel's voice briefly devolved into an animalistic snarl. "Damn," he thought to himself. "I must have _really_ struck a nerve."

But then Daniel lifted his head back up to face Zack once more, and Zack mentally gulped when he saw that Daniel's gray eyes had lost their earlier cold and metallic look and been replaced with a burning hatred. "And not only that," Daniel continued. "But the sex rights in question? Were never even your's to begin with. Susan had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want to be your bedding partner. You know damn well she didn't want that. And you didn't care." He leaned forward, finger still pointing at Zack. "Instead, you tried to force yourself on her, giving zero shits about her wishes and feelings, how Calvin had specifically warned you against the whole business, _or_ me and Diana's own feelings on the matter." He gestured at the other four boys standing to the left of him, Calvin, and Hobbes. "And that's without mentioning all the harassment and mean-spirited pranks you pulled against them and their own respective girls!" He lifted his finger, now seemingly even angrier then before. "And don't get me started on how you've essentially put all of our lives, dreams, and futures; not to mention Mr. _Schue's_ ; at risk of being nullified and prevented from ever coming true!" He pointed his finger right back at Zack. "And need I remind you of how, even after how brutally clear that had been made, _and_ how much Mr. Schuester had made it clear you needed to get your act together, you _still_ did everything in your power to drum up yet more chaos right behind his back without stopping before my intervention for no reason then for shits, giggles, and satisfaction of your own ego!"

Zack mentally winced, but extended his hands forward in an effort to placate Daniel, all while simultaneously finding himself regretting even more how hard he'd worked just two days ago to make Daniel and the other students at McKinley High actually _believe_ that he'd been genuine in his behavior. If there were anything that the phrase 'gone horribly right' could have referred to at that moment, it was his actions from the previous three days. "Daniel, please," he said. "All that stuff I did and said? None of that was for real." His heart sank at the sight of the other boys alongside Daniel scoffing, rolling their eyes, sniggering, and even flashing smug disbelieving grins. Even Hobbes had the canine equivalent of a smug smirk on his furry face. "I mean it," he said in a clearly desperate tone. "Honest, I mean it! None of that stuff was for real! I didn't truly mean any of it! I swear!"

"Why should I believe that?"

Zack could only gape in terror and despair, mouth agape and eyes widened at Daniel as the gray-eyed boy walked up to him once more. Daniel's eyes remained narrowed, and he snarled, clearly just as in disbelief as his latest comment had indicated.

"Now that everything I thought I knew about you has turned out to be nothing but a big, fat, _black_ lie?"

Zack gasped and mentally sputtered, trying desperately to think of an adequate response to what Daniel had just said.

Daniel growled, and clenched his fists. "I don't know what you're thinking," Daniel began. "But I am smarter than you seem to be willing to give me any credit for anymore. And I can tell you, with full confidence, that I _know_ , for a _fact_ , that you are not the Zack that I knew." He pointed his finger at Zack yet again. "You're a monster. A sick, twisted, heartless monster. Who mocks his memory by taking on his familiar shape, and who uses his familiar face as a mask to hide his dark, foul, villainous interior."

Daniel leaned his head towards Zack, gray eyes glowing with fury. "And he had me fooled for so many years now into thinking that he was my friend and that he was a good and noble-hearted person truly worthy of my friendship and trust." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled shakily in rage. "I never thought I'd be so horribly utterly wrong in my life." He took another deep breath, and then exhaled again. "But now, I'm too angry to even care how it's finally reached the point of realizing that I've indeed been exactly that wrong."

Daniel straightened himself back to full height and back away from Zack. He glared coldly at the stunned silent and devastated black boy. "You're not the Zack that I knew." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled in a way that sounded as if he were spitting out his breath. "You're not my friend."

He turned around to face the other 5 boys with him. The boys, plus the dog, who had now truly proven themselves the good and noble-hearted boys that he'd once been so certain that Zack had been, and were now all ready and raring to go with him to rescue the girls. "Let's go guys," he said. "We've got friends to save." He turned his head to direct one final glare at Zack. " _Real_ friends."

"Yeah," said Cody.

"That's what I'm talking about," Raj agreed.

"You heard him lads," said Darren. "Let's get a move on!"

"Here! Here!" Dunlap yelled.

Calvin snarled, lifted his head, and emitted a series of velociraptor-like barking coughs. At the exact moment he did this, Calvin, Hobbes, Daniel, and the other boys apart from Zack turned around and started running down the hallway in the direction opposite Zack and towards the nearest exit. It was clear that they were firmly settled on their current goal to reach the location of Bacchus 24-7 Baseball House and rescue their respective close female friends from whatever horrific fate was potentially at risk of befalling them in whatever it was Charlotte now apparently had planned. And as they ran, Calvin even went so far as to unleash a shrill and raspy velociraptor-like shriek of challenge while Hobbes simultaneously let out a series of cacophonic challenging barks, snarls, and growls.

Five minutes later, the entire group had departed from the hall and straight out the nearest exit, leaving Zack all alone. For what seemed like an eternity, Zack remained where he was, frozen in shock and despair. Then the apparent eternity finally came to an end, and he hung his head, his facial expression changing to one of guilt and shame.

As guilty as he'd already been feeling about the whole mess, there had still been a small part of him that had continued to refuse to accept the full enormity of what he'd done, let alone of the resulting aftermath. But only now did he finally realize just how far he'd gone.

He turned around so that his back was pressing against the lockers, and he slid himself down so that he was at a seated position against the bottom row of lockers behind him. He placed his hands on his knees, hung his head, and sighed once more. "Daniel was right," he thought to himself. "I'm not the Zack that he knew." He sniffled. "Hell," he thought to himself. "I barely even recognize myself anymore when thinking about all that shit I pulled this week."

He turned his head to look dejectedly in the direction the rest of the boys had taken. "This is all my fault," he thought to himself. "This entire mess I'm in? The actions I committed that got me into this mess? It's all my fault." He hung his head once more. "I was even given fair warning and left with plenty of opportunity to stop. I should have listened to Daniel. I should have listened to Calvin. I should have listened to Susan. I should have listened to Diana. I should have listened to Mr. Schue. I should have listened to my dad. I should have listened to. . ."

His eyes widened. He had once again remembered his talk with Charlotte after school that very Monday. And of course, naturally, he'd remembered the details of the plan that she'd wanted him to help her with that he'd instead altered to serve his own ends. Letting out what sounded like a mix between a sob and a snarl, he clenched his right fist and slammed it against the locker directly next to him. "God!" he yelled. "How could I have been so stupid!?"

But he had indeed been that stupid. While he had thankfully not allowed Charlotte's plan to unfold the way she'd planned in even the slightest, he had instead allowed it to be fulfilled at the expense of a completely different target; himself. Rather than trick Daniel into behaving more like a bad boy and all-around scumbag under a misguided belief that it would make him seem more attractive to Diana, he himself had started behaving more in that fashion instead to hopefully make himself look more attractive to Charlotte. And in a similar vein, he had also chosen not to tell anyone about his plan and how his horrendous change in behavior and personality U-turn was all an act in order for everyone to put on a convincing performance in believing that those very elements were genuine, and thus hopefully convincing Charlotte.

But only now did he fully accept the fact that this very plan had managed to both go horribly wrong _and_ horribly right at the same time. It had gone wrong in that he'd both been thoroughly defeated by Calvin and lost both all chances of even pretending to bed with Susan as well as his previously established record of always winning and being the most badass 'warrior' amongst the McKinley High male student population. Whereas on the flipside, it had also gone horribly right in that he'd done too good of a job at convincing everyone else at the school that his personality U-turn had been genuine. And because of this, everyone in the school, student and faculty alike, distrusted him. No one wanted anything to do with him. Even his fangirls, fellow basketball teammates, and Daniel and Diana had turned their backs on him and no longer trusted him. And to top it all off, even Charlotte, the very girl that he'd been trying to attract, was now disgusted and repulsed by him and his actions. All in all, he'd managed to both alienate several potential new friends and destroy the friendships he'd already had in a misguided and brainless effort at making himself look more attractive to his crush. The very same fate that Charlotte had wanted him to help her cause Daniel to experience.

Zack hung his head once more, his eyes now closed as he struggled to keep himself together. But this task was now becoming increasingly difficult, and for good reason. Because only now did he fully realize how the effort he'd put into his actions from earlier that week truly hadn't been worthwhile at all. Only now did he realize how unforgivably low he'd stooped to attempt to attain his goal. Only now did he realize how much more damage he'd been causing to both what he'd had as well as what he could have gained instead then he'd thought. But now, it seemed very likely that he was now too late. The damage had now been done, he had failed to achieve the goal he'd been hoping to achieve through the actions that had caused him to get into this mess, and had lost both that goal _and_ everything else he'd had and could have gained instead all in one go. And now, here he was, sitting in the hall against some lockers, untrusted, friendless, and alone. And it was all his fault.

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Once again, I hope very much that you enjoyed it! And of course, I very much hope that you leave plenty of feedback. As usual, I require a minimum of 1 review for this new chapter by the time I finish the next chapter in order to update. Once again, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Coming up Next: We finally find out just WHAT sort of situation the girls are going through. And as it turns out, not only is it indeed NOT pretty, but it also turns out even worse than what Charlotte's mysterious sympathizer had planned and subsequently duped Charlotte into expecting. Sound exciting? I certainly hope so!**


	21. The Raptor Den

**Hey ya'll! Geez Louise, I took WAY too long! Honestly, I SO had intended for this to be finished and posted a Hell of a lot earlier than now, but life just seemed dead set on getting in the way and making me so busy as to have Lord knows how much difficulty in finding the time to work on my fanfiction. Oh well, at least now I've finally gotten this chapter done and posted for you guys to read, review, and enjoy! Good God I'm hoping this proves more than worth the long wait and that the next chapter doesn't take QUITE as long to finish (though we'd best not hold our breath on that latter hope). Anyway, in this new chapter we finally figure out just WHAT is happening to the girls. And as it turns out, not only is it indeed NOT pretty, but it also turns out that it's actually even worse than what Charlotte's apparent sympathizer had planned (and subsequently duped Charlotte into expecting)! Sound exciting! Dear God I hope so!**

 **A/N: But first, I'll just remind you all again, that I do not own Glee. Get that? Got that? Good. Now, FINALLY, onward with the fic!**

 **Chapter 21:**

 **The Raptor Den**

At around the same time that each of the boys had received their respective final texts from before the radio silence, the six girls were slowly making their way further and further away from McKinley High and closer and closer to what seemed like a somewhat less palatable looking stretch of neighborhood. The girls all narrowed their eyes. They couldn't help but feel that something was looking more than a little off about the whole situation. Even Charlotte was feeling rather nervous about just what she was getting herself into.

Susan, however, was by far the most suspicious and wary of what was going on. "I'm not liking the look of this place," she said. She directed a glare at Charlotte. "You absolutely certain this is where you wanted us to go?"

It took all of Charlotte's willpower to keep her own sense of unease hidden. As desperate as she was right now to hope that whatever it was that her mysterious supporter had planned would actually work, a small part of her even now couldn't help but feel that whatever his plan was would turn out to be a very bad idea. She forced her fear to as far back in her mind as she could. For now, the part of her that wanted so badly for what she believed her biggest dream to be fulfilled on her own birthday was far stronger than the more reasonable side that could tell how badly things were starting to seem very likely to be.

"Yes," she said. "We're close. I'm sure of it."

"You're sure of it?" Diana asked.

"Yes," said Charlotte.

"Considering the look of this place," Susan piped up, "we're gonna need a Hell of a lot stronger than 'sure of it'."

"In that case," said Charlotte. "I'm pretty damn sure."

"You'd better be," said Amber.

"No kidding," Naomi agreed. Even though she couldn't actually see how bad the part of the neighborhood they were in looked, she had a very instinctive feeling about the area's atmosphere that seemed to her to more than justify the sense of unease her allies appeared to be feeling.

It took all of Charlotte's willpower not to sigh in exasperation. "It will be worth it," she thought to herself. "It will be worth it." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Just keep moving," she said aloud. "We're almost there."

And indeed, they were. After about another few minutes, the other girls found themselves being signaled to a stop by Charlotte not too far from a building that, despite a rather silly sounding name, looked very contrastingly unsettling. The fact that there also seemed to be rock music very loudly playing from within did little to assuage their nerves. Diana and Susan promptly took one look at the building in question, and their eyes narrowed. Even at first glance, they could tell that things were starting to look screwy. They looked each other in the eyes, a silent message passing between them. To put it simply, things were not looking good, and they were feeling very glad indeed that they'd been keeping their respective male friends back at McKinley informed of their progress through town. They turned around to face Charlotte.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Diana.

Charlotte took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Yes," she responded. "I'm sure. Very much sure."

"And why I ask, are we hanging around _this_ place? Let alone around a _crack house_ of all places!?" Amber asked. She pointed towards the building in question. "From what I hear of this place, it may not be officially active, but everyone knows that there's _something_ still going on there that the cops just simply haven't been able to prove." She folded her arms across her chest. "And that being said," she continued. "No one, and I mean _no one_ , in their right mind would want to be within 10 miles of this place unless they're either an idiot or a criminal; and last time I checked, neither of those two descriptions applies to any of us." Her eyes narrowed. "Except maybe for you."

Charlotte took a deep breath, trying her best not to lose her temper.

"For the record, it wasn't her idea for us to meet up in this area."

At the sound of this unexpected new voice, all six girls turned their heads in the direction it had come from. At the sight of the unfamiliar sophomore boy standing nearby, the eyes of the 5 girls who hadn't already seen him that day promptly narrowed. The boy's less than convincing hair and similar elements of his physical appearance didn't help.

"It was my idea," the boy continued.

This did nothing to ease the mind of the 5 girls who were currently glaring at him. "And who might you be?" Diana asked.

The boy smiled. At least, it seemed as if he were smiling. The unbelievably dark black sunglasses made it quite difficult for the girls to tell if his eyes had the same happy look in them that his mouth was trying to convey. He then opened his mouth, clearly about to speak.

"He's a new acquaintance I made earlier this afternoon."

The boy turned his head to face Charlotte, as did the 5 girls he'd now essentially been introduced to. Charlotte took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "We met in the hallway while I was on my way to lunch, and I thought Mr. Schuester would appreciate it if I were to be nice enough to let him get acquainted with you as well."

Diana directed her gaze back towards the boy in question, her eyebrow still raised in suspicion. Susan, Bailey, and the 2 sophomores likewise directed their suspicious gazes back at the boy, who awkwardly chuckled from nerves.

"Oh really?" Diana asked. She folded her arms across her chest. "I'll say this, I don't remember seeing you around anywhere at school. And trust me, with how low I rank on McKinley High's social ladder, I've gotten a good look at just about every student, freshmen included."

"I'll definitely agree with you there," said Susan, also folding her arms across her chest. "He certainly doesn't look like anyone I've seen around school." Her dark eyes narrowed. "Although, considering how very ridiculously fake his hair looks, and the fact that his eyes are covered with those sunglasses, he may yet turn out to be someone we've seen once or twice, if at all."

The boy smiled again. This time not even his sunglasses could hide the fact that the smile wasn't reaching his eyes. "I can certainly understand that you'd find me hard to recognize," he then said. He nodded his head. "I'll introduce myself further." He extended his hand. "Hello, I am Grayson Scott. It is very nice to meet you."

Diana and her four compatriots raised their eyebrows in disbelief.

"Odd name, I know." The boy nodded his head begrudgingly, and then pointed at Charlotte. "She was in disbelief as well, just for the record."

The girls all looked at each other, and then back at Scott.

"Well in that case," said Diana. "It's nice to meet you as well." She directed a glare towards the unnerving building behind the boy, and then pointed at it. "And why, may I ask, did you have us meet with you _here_ of all places?"

The boy took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "A fair question," he admitted. "After all, I can certainly understand why you would be unnerved to be within close range of this place." He shook his head side to side as if trying to keep himself focused. Then he turned slightly and pointed his finger at the door. "But trust me, everything will be fine. Just come on inside with me, and I promise I'll explain everything. . ."

The eyes of 5 of the girls promptly narrowed in suspicion, but before they even had a chance to speak, a wide eyed and stunned Charlotte beat them to asking the question on their minds. "Excuse me?!" Charlotte yelled. She pointed at the building, straight at the glowing neon sign above the door that said Bacchus 24-7 Baseball House. "You never said anything about actually going _in_ there!"

Scott winced. "I could have sworn I mentioned that . . ."

"You sure as Hell did not you filthy liar," Charlotte hissed. "You told me we would just be meeting right outside this place! Going in there was never part of the discussion!"

At the sound of all this, Scott directed his gaze briefly back at the other 5 girls, all of whom now had their eyes narrowed even further. Even Naomi had a narrow-eyed glare in her opaque eyes that made her look absolutely nightmarish. Gulping mentally, he turned his head to face Charlotte once more. "Ok, ok, maybe I did forget to mention that detail." He pointed at the other 5 girls. "But trust me, your compatriots and I? We'll be perfectly safe in there. . ."

"And I won't?!" Charlotte asked.

Scott mentally facepalmed. "Well you shouldn't have to worry about anything happening to you," he began. "You'll be waiting out here while I talk with your friends . . ."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone!" Charlotte pointed her finger at Scott, her eyes now narrowed lividly. "Why the Hell do I have to stay out here and wait?" She pointed her finger at the other 5 girls. "What you want to say to them? You can say it in front of me! Can't you?"

As the 6 girls watched, Scott seemingly winced yet again. "Well," he began uncertainly, "not exactly."

Charlotte's eyes narrowed, and her fists clenched. "Clarify."

The boy looked at Charlotte, then at the other 5 girls, and then back at Charlotte. "It's . . . complicated."

Susan scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Hah," she snorted. "Isn't that a convenient excuse?"

"You said it," said Diana. Amber and Naomi nodded their heads in agreement. Even Charlotte nodded her head in agreement. Bailey, however, merely raised her eyebrow.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "I'm gonna need better than that for you to convince me."

Scott sighed. "Look Charlotte, please just trust me on this. . ."

"Why?!" Charlotte yelled. "I barely even know you!" She gestured at the other 5 girls. "All 6 of us barely even know you!" She pointed at Scott. "And you have now twice been exposed to keeping secrets, and essentially made yourself out to be a liar!" She folded her arms across her chest. "You know what? I'm surprised I believed your spiel about empathizing with me. Clearly, you can't be trusted at all." She lifted her finger as if to prove a point. "And I, for one, am not spending another second within range of this godforsaken hell hole, especially now that you've essentially exposed this entire gathering to be just a big fat waste of time!"

"For once, I actually agree with you," said Diana.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Susan agreed.

"Yeah," said Naomi.

"You said it," said Amber.

Diana and Charlotte nodded their heads, knowing that a moment like this in which they both agreed on something would not happen often, but glad that they both shared this tiny bit of common sense. It was now quite clear to both of them that something wasn't right, and they could worry about maintaining their usual enmity at a later date, and at a safer location. Diana turned around to face the other four girls. "Come on girls," said the New Directions' female lead. "We're leaving."

"Thank God for that," said Susan. "Let's get out of here."

Charlotte, Naomi, and Amber promptly voiced their agreement, and they all started walking back the way they'd come. Or at least, it initially appeared as if they all started heading back the way they'd come. Susan, however, didn't take long to notice one tiny detail. "What the?" she asked. "Where's Bailey?"

Diana, Amber, and Naomi stopped and looked around, their eyebrows rising as they too realized that Bailey appeared to not be with them. Then they looked directly back the way they'd come just in time to see Bailey open the front door to the very building that they'd mere moments ago been so adamantly against entering.

Surprised, Diana, Susan, and the two sophomores rushed right back to the building's entrance. "Hey!" Diana yelled. "Get back here!"

"What are you doing Bailey?" Susan shouted. "Don't go in there!"

This shouting was enough to finally get Charlotte's attention, having failed to realize the situation before due to how she'd been at the very front of the group in the attempt to leave, and she turned her head in time to see first Bailey walk right through the now open door, and then the other 4 girls who'd accompanied her impulsively run through the open door themselves in pursuit. Upon sight of this, she promptly turned her body a full 180 to head back over herself. The sight of Scott coming around the door and entering the building himself, however, was enough to get Charlotte to start running.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Don't you dare!"

Scott made it into the doorway, grabbing onto the doorknob in the process. He turned his head to look in Charlotte's direction, wincing slightly at the sight of her running towards him and the door. "Sorry," he said. "This has to be done. Don't worry, everything will be fine. Just trust me." He stepped backwards, slamming the door shut as he did so. Charlotte was so angered by the sight and sound of the door slamming that she completely missed the distinctive clicking noise made when Scott then proceeded to lock the door from inside. Of course, to be fair, the loud music that was even now still blaring from within probably would have kept the locking noise sufficiently masked from her hearing even if she hadn't been angered by the fact that the door had now been closed. Nevertheless, it wasn't until she reached the door and tried to open it back up that she realized that Scott had locked her out. "And himself and the rest of the girls _in_ ," she thought to herself in a mixture of bitterness and horror.

She stopped tugging at the door. It was clear that such a tactic would be of no use. She started banging on the door with her fists. "HEY!" she yelled. "Open the door you cowardly moron!" But of course, as her fiendishly rotten luck would have it, and at what couldn't be a worse time for that matter, the blaring rock music drowned her out.

. . . . .

"What the Hell are you doing in here?!"

Bailey turned her head, half irritated and half amused when she saw none other than Diana, Susan, and the two sophomore girls now in the building alongside her. "This from a bunch of girls who are _also_ in here?"

The other girls' eyes narrowed, clearly not amused by Bailey's sarcastic attempt at wit. "We came in here to get _you_ back outside! Where it's safe!"

Bailey, shockingly enough, rolled her eyebrows. "Don't be so dramatic," she said. She pointed in the direction of the now closed door, where Scott just now happened to be standing. "So what if he screwed up a little in properly conveying his plans? I say we at least give him a chance anyway. I'm sure Mr. Schue would appreciate it if we did that."

"Hate to break it to you," said Amber, not sounding at all sorry for what she was about to say. "But I highly doubt Mr. Schue would have us go _this_ far in our efforts at bettering our camaraderie and teamwork."

"Yeah," Naomi agreed. She gestured with her hands at the general area around her. "Do you not _see_ what this place is? And coming from _me_ , that's saying something."

Bailey scoffed. "Oh please." She gestured towards Scott once more. "He says we'll be perfectly safe. I hardly see any reason why we shouldn't trust him on that."

"Is the fact that he wanted us to actually be _in_ this place for his supposed talk with us not enough to warrant suspicion?" Susan asked. She pointed at the area behind Bailey. "Because me personally, I don't like the look of all these other guys in here."

Diana and the 2 sophomore girls were very quick to agree with Susan on that matter. Apart from themselves and Scott, all the building's current occupants did _not_ look at all welcoming or friendly. For starters, all of them were adult men, were dressed in outfits that would not be out of place on the stereotypical image of a biker, _and_ had the overall aura, physical appearance, and bearing worthy of a standard criminal biker gangster. The fact that they all seemed very hardened, tough, and at the ready to snap into violence at a moment's notice didn't help either. And as if to further sink in how unsettling the whole situation appeared to be, all the girls apart from Bailey were able to see the very unnerving tattoo on many of the men's right shoulders. The tattoo in question seemed to be drawn in the style of the famous t-rex skeleton logo for Jurassic Park, but in the shape of a skeletal JP velociraptor instead of a t-rex. The fact that this tattoo seemed to be on the right shoulder of virtually every single man whose right shoulder they could get a clear view of only further unnerved them. And of course, with how many of the men seemed to share the tattoo that they could see, they had plenty of reason to believe that all the men whose right shoulders they couldn't see clearly had this tattoo as well.

Bailey, not even bothering to look in the direction that the other girls were looking, scoffed once more. "Please, it can't be that bad in here if _he's_ not worried about being in here."

"How do we know he's not in league with them?" Diana asked.

Bailey blew a raspberry. "Oh please," she said. "Now you're just being paranoid."

"It's not impossible," said Susan.

"Yeah well, it's still ridiculous," said Bailey. She spread her arms out sideways as if in exasperation. "Honestly girls, there's no need to worry!"

If Bailey had been looking in the same direction the other girls were looking, she would not have been acting so cocky. As it so happened, all the unsavory and unscrupulous looking men in the area were all gradually turning their gaze towards the entrance, eyes brightening in unison with an apparent sadistic glee, and similarly smug and sadistically unnerving grins coming onto their faces; all at the sight of both the group of young girls who they'd been expecting to show up, and of the young disguised boy who'd informed them of this possibility and now clearly made it a reality.

"Ridiculous or not," said Diana. She grabbed Bailey by the arm, an angry glare on her face that allowed no room for argument. "I for one, am not going to take the risk of getting us all stuck in here and experiencing God knows what level of screwed up horror all these crooks in here could end up subjecting us to. And neither is anyone else in here apart from _you_. Hell, even _Charlotte_ wanted us all to get out of this area not too long ago, and you know she and I _never_ agree on anything. Sorry to burst your bubble Bailey, but we're leaving."

"I'm afraid that can't be done just yet."

Diana, Susan, and the 2 sophomore girls promptly turned their heads to look behind them, eyes narrowing in suspicion at Scott. Bailey, it must be said, similarly gaped in Scott's direction, but with her eyes widening in surprise at the unexpectedly unsettling phrase he'd just said in response to what Diana had just recently said.

"And why the Hell not?" Amber asked, dark eyes clouded with suspicion and distrust.

"Yeah," Naomi agreed, her blue eyes icy with similar thoughts. "Why not?"

"Like I was saying outside," said Scott, who was now slowly starting to inch his way in an arc to his right and around the girls. "My associates and I are just going to have a little talk with you. . ."

"Associates?"

Susan folded her arms across her chest immediately after saying this, eyes still narrowed. "You never mentioned that."

Scott mentally winced yet again. "My mistake," he admitted.

"Let me guess," said Diana. She glanced towards the numerous unsettling looking men from the corner of her left eye. "Those crooks gathered around over there?"

Scott let out a nervous chuckle. "That obvious huh?"

At the sound of this response, Baily found herself the recipient of a clear 'I told you so' glare directed at her in unison by all four of the other girls present alongside her. Bailey gulped, and turned her head towards the adult men, and her heart promptly plummeted fearfully upon _finally_ seeing the less than reassuring aura they were giving off.

Diana looked back at Scott. "And why should we believe that you and your 'associates' truly only want to have a 'little talk' with us?" The fact that she very deliberately air quoted 'associates' and 'little talk' was not lost on Scott.

At that point, the boy was slowly getting into position directly in between the girls and the adult men. "Just trust me, that's all we're going to do. Everything will be perfectly safe and fine."

The girls, Bailey included this time, all glared at him in response. "We're gonna need a lot more than that to believe you," said Susan.

At that moment, one of the men couldn't help but let his grin widen at the sound of this. "Smart girls," he thought to himself. "Real shame they ended up coming in here."

Scott, now positioned directly in front of the girls with his back facing all the adult men in the building, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then responded, "Look, please just trust me. I mean it. Honest to God, you'll be perfectly safe. Nothing too bad is going to happen to you. We're just gonna have a little talk, and then you can go home. That's all. Plain and simple. You have my word."

Scott found his heart sinking once more when the girls merely glared at him yet again. Unfortunately, literally seconds later, this soon turned out to be the least of his problems; or of the girls' problems for that matter; when he heard one of the men chuckling darkly behind him alongside said man's footsteps coming towards him.

"Well it's a good thing your word don't mean squat."

Scott's eyes widened just as much as the girls' eyes at the sound of this statement. He turned his head in time to see none other than the very man who'd mentally complimented the girls for being smart standing right behind him, grin still on his face. "Wha . . . what do you mean?"

The man chuckled again. "Silly child, it's quite simple." He placed his finger against Scott's back. "Your word ain't got no worth here." He pointed his finger at the girls. "And good thing to. Otherwise, we'd be having a pretty boring afternoon here right now."

The girls all gulped, and looked each other in the eyes. As much as 4 of them had already been expecting an outcome like this from the very beginning, hearing their suspicions get confirmed was nonetheless quite unnerving and deserving of fear.

Scott, who was quite stunned himself by this unexpected turn of events, turned his entire body around to face the older man. "Surely you must be joking?" he said. He pointed his finger at the man, his face trying to convey the absolute best confident and hardened glare of authority he could muster despite his rapidly increasing nerves. "You heard me perfectly clearly when I called you on the phone earlier today to get yourself and your squadron ready. You know full well what my orders were when I said them."

As this happened, Bailey proceeded to surreptitiously make her way towards the door while the other four girls remained frozen in apprehension and gaze at the miniature confrontation that appeared to be shaping up between the boy and the older man. She silently cursed herself mentally for getting herself and the other girls well and truly in this mess in the first place while doing so. "What was I thinking?" she thought to herself bitterly. "I'm supposed to be smarter than this damn it!"

The older man merely chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "And what, may I ask, gives you the right to order us around?"

"Need I remind you who my father is?" Scott snarled, his eyes now narrowed into a genuine glare of annoyance and exasperation. He jabbed his finger closer towards the man, completely unaware of how all the other men in the room were slowly starting to rise from their own seats and make their way towards where their compatriot was already positioned. "He may be the boss, but I have just as much authority as him whenever he's not around. And I will not tolerate insubordination like this. I know that for a fact!"

Much to Scott's surprise, and annoyance, literally _all_ the adult men burst out laughing literally the instant after he'd finished speaking.

"Authority? You?"

The man directly in front of Scott snorted, the rest of the men still laughing. "You wish." He lifted his finger. "Granted, I'll admit, your brothers certainly have that kind of authority just like your father does. But you?" He shook his head side to side. "In. Your. Dreams."

At that instant, Bailey had managed to reach the door and started trying to pull it open . . . only to realize the hard way that it was locked. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap," she thought in despair. She turned her head to face her four compatriots, the young boy who she'd so foolishly trusted not too long ago, and the multiple adult men apparently in league with the boy who were now also turning out to be dangerously nowhere as well under control as the young boy had apparently thought they were. Her heart sank as she now fully realized the full horror of what she'd now unwittingly brought upon herself and her four newfound gal pals. "What have I done?" she thought to herself.

The rest of the men finally stopped laughing, and they all gazed intently in the direction of their comrade. Said comrade pointed his finger at Scott, his earlier look of smug humor now replaced with a pokerfaced glare. "Enough jibber jabber," said the man. "Time for us to get down to business."

Scott mentally gulped. "Shit," he thought. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." He kept his gaze focused on his supposed underlings, trying his damned hardest not to allow his overwhelming nerves and fear to physically show. "I may not have the authority over you that I thought I did," he said. He gestured towards the girls. "But if you're about to do what I think you're about to do? Think of the potential consequences! The publicity that could come upon us and the others!" He pointed back at the older man directly in front of him. "You heard what my dad said in last night's meeting! We're not ready to attract that level of publicity! And you know my dad doesn't like it when we draw too much attention to ourselves at inappropriate times!"

"Nice try."

The man grabbed Scott by the shoulder. "But what the boss doesn't know, won't hurt him." He pointed towards the girls. "Once we're done with them, assuming they survive, they'll be too scared to tell anyone the full story."

The girls' eyes all narrowed upon hearing this. "Like Hell we will," thought Susan.

"And as for you," said the man, his grip on Scott's shoulder tightening. "If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut about this to." A grin popped up on his face. "And it certainly helps that you won't even be able to fully see exactly how this unfolds."

Scott raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The man suddenly stepped to his left and sent Scott stumbling forwards towards the rest of the men. Scott had just enough time to shriek in surprise from this before he made it within range of an African American man who grabbed him by the shoulder and punched him in the face. This sent Scott stumbling to his right towards a blonde man who sent him stumbling further amongst the group with an elbow strike to the chest. Scott was just on the verge of regaining his footing when the Chinese American man he was stumbling towards did a spinning jump kick to the side of the boy's head, sending the boy stumbling straight towards the bar within the building. As a result of his being off balance, Scott's forehead crashed against the bar, and he spun around in a daze before then collapsing flat on his face, completely out cold. As this happened, his blonde hair seemingly slumped downward towards the floor just enough to allow a few strands of brown hair to pop up into view on the back of his head.

The girls and adult men, however, paid no attention to this detail, or anything about Scott for that matter following the moment he landed face-down on the floor. At that moment, each of the two 'sides' had more important thoughts on their minds.

The man who initially been speaking with Scott chuckled, his eyes agleam, and grin on his face. "Well boys," he said while still facing the girls. "Time to get the party started." The rest of the men promptly chuckled, snarled, and likewise showed their assent, the fangs and claws on their skeletal JP velociraptor shoulder tattoos seeming to shine ominously in the relatively dim light.

In that moment, as all the men started tensing up and similarly readying themselves for action, Amber and Naomi glanced nervously as Diana and Susan, now clearly starting to unconsciously remember their experiences with Marcus and Aaron. Bailey, likewise directed a nervous glance towards the two female leads of New Directions.

"What do we do?" Amber asked.

Diana and Susan directed a brief glance at Bailey and the 2 sophomore girls, then another back at the large group of adult men, and then their eyes narrowed venomously. "You're not gonna like this," said Diana. She and Susan clenched their fists and took on what could qualify as attack stances of their own. "But unless someone somehow arrives to put a stop to this within the very near future, we're going to have to fight our way out."

 **And just like that, another chapter done! Hoowee, things are not looking good! Dear God I hope the next chapter doesn't take too long to finish considering how THIS chapter's ending! For that matter, here's to also hoping it doesn't take too long for this particular chapter to receive a minimum of 1-2 reviews (the required review quota to be fulfilled in order to allow posting of the next chapter upon its completion). Again, hope you all read and enjoyed this long awaited new chapter! And that you subsequently leave a respectable amount of feedback!**

 **Coming up Next: The boys reach the outside of the dreaded crack house, where Charlotte still happens to be positioned. And soon enough, with some unexpected 'help' (from their point of view anyway), the boys manage to heroically arrive just in time to join in the girls' conflict and save the day! Sound exciting? I sure as Hell hope so!**


	22. Laying Down the Law

**Hey everybody! FINALLY! Another chapter! And just in time (somewhat) for Thanksgiving! Hope this proves well worth the wait, and that you read, enjoy, and leave plenty of reviews! In this long awaited chapter, the boys have finally arrived at the dreaded crack house, and with some unexpected help, they manage to burst in just in time to save the day! Sound exciting? I certainly hope so!**

 **A/N: But first, again, I do not own Glee. But that certainly doesn't mean I'm not thankful for what I do have and own! Onward with the fic people!**

 **Chapter 22:**

 **Laying Down the Law**

Daniel's gray eyes narrowed as he gazed towards the hated crack house from his hiding place from behind a parked car on the opposite side of the road. The other boys hiding alongside him, plus Hobbes, likewise directed narrow-eyed glares towards the crack house. They had arrived in the area 10 minutes ago, and had found undeniable proof that this place was indeed where the girls currently were not too long after arrival. However, said proof was also the reason why they were currently hiding and hadn't already gone charging into the building to save the girls. The proof? None other than Charlotte Thornton standing right outside the door.

At the moment, Charlotte was just standing where she was, her fists clenched, her face seemingly frozen in a glare, and the rest of her body likewise tensed up as she seemingly glanced aimlessly around the area, clearly pissed off for some reason. Why she was in this mood right now was currently beyond them. But regardless, the simple fact was that she was currently positioned directly outside the door to the Bacchus 24-7 Baseball House, and that this rendered the boys unable to come out of their hiding place and walk more than 3 steps towards the building without her seeing them. And considering how, as far as they knew, she'd be more than likely to try to interfere in some fashion if she became aware of their presence, such a possibility was the last thing any of them could afford to risk. But at the same time, she seemed in no hurry to leave the area and get out of their way, and that left plenty of potential for a dire fate to befall the rest of the girls if they didn't intervene soon.

This left the boys with a serious dilemma. If they didn't get into the crack house and help the girls soon, Lord knew what sort of horrendous fate could befall them. But if they got out of hiding now, there was no way they'd make it to the building without being seen by Charlotte and running the risk of her actively interfering in some fashion. Therefore, as much as they were now worried about the rest of the girls, one other important question was now on their minds; just how would they get into the building without getting caught by Charlotte?

Calvin quietly snarled. "This is insane."

Hobbes let off a low snarl of his own. Quite frankly, it was now taking all the poor dog's willpower to keep himself at just a low enough volume to avoid violating the 'silent' command Calvin had given him and giving himself, his master, and the rest of the boys away.

"I hear you bro," said Darren. He nodded his head. "This is indeed insane."

"How do we get her out of the way?" Dunlap asked.

"We certainly won't be going anywhere just sitting here," said Cody.

"You think we don't know that?" Calvin asked.

"I'm just being real here."

"Well how about you use your 'being real' to actually help us think of a plan, genius."

"Guys," Daniel cut in. "Not now."

Calvin and Cody briefly glared at Daniel, but then took deep breaths and exhaled, calming themselves down. As one, all six of the boys, plus Hobbes, peeked back over their hiding place towards the door where Charlotte was standing. Miraculously enough, she still appeared oblivious to their presence despite the brief rise in volume from Cody and Calvin. "How the Hell are we gonna get in there without her catching us?" Daniel asked half to himself and half to his compatriots.

"Maybe we could go around to the back," Darren suggested. "There could be an alternate entrance there we could use."

"We'd still be back at square one if there isn't." Daniel shook his head. "And even if there is, there could be an even worse form of security guarding it. And even if that's not the case," he pointed at Charlotte, "we'd still almost certainly get seen by Charlotte if we tried to take the short way to the back of the building. And from what I can gather about this environment, trying to take the long way around could take at least half an hour. And I highly doubt the girls can afford to wait that long."

"We could call the police and let them handle it," said Raj.

"Not a bad idea," Daniel admitted. "But first, we'd have to backtrack a fair distance away to make sure Charlotte wouldn't be able to overhear. Second, assuming the cops would even believe us, it would still take time for them to get here. The preparations they'd need to make, combined with how far the nearest police station is from this part of town could leave us with God knows how much waiting time for them to arrive. And again, time is the last thing we can afford to spend waiting right now."

"He's right," said Calvin. "And I just remembered another thing." He looked at the rest of the boys. "If we're to get the police involved, we can't do it ourselves directly. We have to contact Mr. Schue first, and then have _him_ get the police involved."

"Oh yeah, that's right," said Dunlap. He looked at the rest of the boys. "If Mr. Schuester isn't directly involved somehow in putting a stop to this, who knows what our parents would think? Or what effect that would have on his job?"

"Oh yeah, you're right," said Darren. "Yeah, very good point. We have to get Mr. Schue in on this. Lord knows he's already on shaky enough standing right now as is."

"Indeed," said Daniel. He turned his head to look at the crack house once more, eyes narrowing back into a glare upon sight of Charlotte still standing where she was. "But that still leaves us with the question of how to get Charlotte out of the way so that at least some of us can give the girls an immediate rescue while waiting for Mr. Schue and the cops to arrive."

The other boys grumbled bitterly in agreement as they positioned themselves the same way that Daniel had just done. Even Hobbes noticeably had his eyes narrowed in apparent irritation as he too peeked back in Charlotte's direction.

"At this rate," said Calvin. "One of us is going to have get out from the hiding place and lead her away."

"Well who would she even listen to? Let alone be all that interested in following?"

Calvin had just started thinking to himself to come up with an answer to this question when Cody seemed to grimace, and then direct a sheepish glance towards Daniel. "Well. . ." the Korean American began.

Daniel promptly directed his narrow-eyed glare towards Cody. "Don't you dare," he said. "I am _not_ serving as Charlotte's distraction. Lord knows how she could twist that to her advantage the next time she tries to flirt around with me or have a go at Diana."

"Yeah but," Cody began. "You're the only one here amongst us that she'd be even willing to talk to, let alone have any reason to pursue if you were to try to lead her away by having her chase you."

"I don't care," Daniel snarled, his gray eyes blazing with disgust and rage. "I am _not_ reducing myself _that_ low. I will not willingly give Charlotte ammunition for her inane quest like that. I'd rather die than even make it _look_ to Diana as if I even remotely considered the idea of giving Charlotte that kind of a chance."

"Yeah well, hate to break it to you," Cody glowered, now clearly sounding rather irritated himself. "But if something isn't done soon, then Diana could very well die, or worse, and so could the rest of the girls apart from the one girl in this club who'd actually deserve such a fate."

"You think I don't know that?!" Daniel snarled.

"Um guys," said Calvin.

Maybe it was the nervous tone, or maybe it was sheer luck. But for whatever reason, the other boys promptly turned their attention to Calvin. The nervous look on his face, a look that Hobbes just happened to share at that moment, only further convinced them that whatever was now on Calvin's mind was of high importance.

The autistic boy gulped, turned his head to his right, and pointed towards the area from which they'd entered the street they were on. "I think we're about to have another problem on our hands."

The other boys turned their own gazes to where Calvin was pointing. Upon sight of the apparent 'other problem' that had now come into the picture, their eyes all widened before they too had the same nervous expression as Calvin and Hobbes come upon their faces.

"Oh shit," said Daniel.

"We're doomed," said Cody.

"He's gonna give us away," said Darren.

. . . . .

Charlotte Thornton was very pissed off at that moment. "And here I was thinking that today couldn't possibly get any worse after that fiasco that ensued from Silena and Ashley's insane kidnapping scheme," she thought bitterly to herself. She glared at the still locked and unmoving door to the crack house, her fists clenched, eyes narrowed, and the rest of her body likewise tensed up. "But of course, as per my usual rotten luck in these matters, something managed to happen that turned out even worse!" She kicked the door angrily. "GOD!" she thought to herself. "How could I have been so stupid?!"

But indeed, it seemed she had been so stupid. And now, God knew what was going on inside the damned building. She lifted her head towards the sky, growling irritably. What was she going to do?

"I could always call the police," she started to think to herself. She clenched her eyes shut, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists even tighter in the process. "No," she growled under her breath. "No, I can't do that. Not for this."

As stupid as this reasoning may have sounded, compared to other girls, Charlotte actually had a particularly good reason to be reluctant to get the cops involved and risk her being interpreted to be in any way involved directly with something of this caliber. Regardless, this reason was enough for her to be reluctant to call the cops on this situation without finding herself with absolutely no other choice first.

With that option out of the question, she then found herself mentally cursing once more when she started bitterly wishing that she'd had the luck to get at least a tiny bit of trust from Daniel and the rest of the boys in the glee club apart from Zack. She knew that they would have definitely been more than willing to help the rest of the girls and save them from danger. But of course, not only was Daniel the only one amongst the glee club boys apart from Zack whom she had the phone number for, but she also knew full well how he'd never willingly answer a phone call from her, let alone believe her. Her various efforts from the previous day, plus so many days and months before today, were ample proof of that.

Then she considered calling Mr. Schuester. But then she promptly dismissed that option as well. "He'd almost certainly get the cops involved, and I can't have that. I can't." She glared at the still locked front door to the crack house, and then punched it with her right fist. "God!" she yelled. "What am I going to do?!"

A few minutes later, Charlotte was still furiously focused on trying to come up with an adequate idea on what to do that she was completely caught off guard when she heard an unexpectedly familiar voice to her right say, "Hey there Charlotte."

Charlotte tensed up, eyes widened in shock, and she turned her head. Sure enough, none other than Zack Skinner himself was in the area and had come to a stop just a couple feet or so to her right. Her eyes narrowed, and she pointed her finger at him. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "And for that matter, how did you know I'd be here?"

Zack took a deep breath, hung his head, and then exhaled. "Look Charlotte," he said. "I understand that you don't trust me. And that no one else does for that matter."

Charlotte scoffed, rolling her eyes dismissively. "And for good reason."

"For that matter," Zack continued. "I know that this is the 3rd time today that I'm attempting to talk with you about anything, and you're probably getting especially annoyed by my continued efforts at this point . . ."

"OH WOW! WHAT GAVE IT AWAY!?"

Zack reared back in shock upon seeing Charlotte so suddenly angry and leaning towards him with an almost literally fiery look of fury on her face.

Charlotte snarled, her eyes narrowing as tightly as her fists were clenching. "You're right," she spat. "This _is_ the 3rd time you've tried to get yourself involved in my business today. And now, here I am once again having to tell you to buzz off and leave me alone!"

Charlotte growled, lifted her hands and tilted her head upwards in exasperation, her fingers taking on a 'clawed' position from her annoyance. "God in Heaven, what is the matter with you?!" Zack was still mentally struggling to think up an adequate response when Charlotte lowered her head to directly face him once more, lowered her hands back into clenched fists, and pointed accusingly at him before shouting, "Why is it that you seem to be so completely incapable of taking no for an answer?! What is it about you that gives you such inability to leave people alone even after they've made it blindingly obvious they want nothing to do with you?! How is it you always have to have even the simplest messages spelled out to you before you finally accept anything that goes against what you want?! Why is that it that not even the destruction of your entire reputation, complete loss and alienation of every friend or other person willing to trust and support you, and the threat of both expulsion and _jail_ are enough to get you to understand that you need to get your head out of your ass, stop being an idiot, and grow the fuck up!?"

Zack was rendered completely speechless. After what seemed like an eternity of silence from the boy, Charlotte snorted, and rolled her eyes in a mixture of bitterness and arrogance. "Had a feeling you wouldn't have an answer," she hissed spitefully. She turned her body so that she had her back completely facing Zack, folding her arms across her chest and haughtily tilting her head in the process. "Go back to whatever filthy hell hole you came crawling from," she growled. "Do me and this entire town a favor by staying home and out of our lives the rest of today where you can't cause any more trouble and further destroy what little nonexistent good will still exists around here for you. And by God, if I see you even a _single_ time more anywhere near me today, I swear, I _will_ call the cops on you and I _will_ make sure that my family presses charges. And I'll gladly be more than happy to endorse any additional charges that anyone else deems worthy of pressing against you for that matter."

Zack opened his mouth and lifted his finger, clearly really wanting to say something, but Charlotte lifted her left hand dismissively without even turning it, or her head, to directly face him. "Who knows?" she said. "Maybe at some point in the God knows how distant future, some impossible miracle will occur and you'll be able to return to everyone's good graces again. But right now? Literally the very day after you finally had your entire rancid true nature exposed to the entire school; not to mention probably the entire town at this rate? Forget it! It's too early to even _hope_ to make things right, and continuing to deny that and force everything to be made right again will only guarantee that you will _never_ succeed in gaining even the tiniest sliver of redemption for your crimes. So stop being naïve, accept the fact that the world's just simply not fair, admit that this entire mess is all your fault, and go home to get your head on straight. God knows how overdue you are for such sensibility." She started to walk away.

"You're right!" Zack shouted. "I am overdue for that level of sensibility! And all that other stuff you said before that? That's all true!"

Charlotte paused.

"Yeah, that's right! You heard me! You're right!"

Zack lifted his finger as if to emphasize a point. "I admit to all those flaws! I take full responsibility for them. I accept the truth in what you claim about their existence!" He spread his hands and arms out sideways. "Long story short? Yes, I've proven without a doubt how horrifically flawed I am over the last few days. Yes, I'm not the person that everyone around here, including myself, thought I was. And you know what? Maybe I don't deserve redemption for all that! Maybe I really had all this stuff that's happened to me now and could very well happen to me in the future coming and should just let it come! Maybe I truly am now better than all the jerks and criminals at school or anywhere in Lima period that at least have the guts to not even try to pretend that they're anything else!"

As Charlotte continued to remain standing where she was, paralyzed with shock, Zack took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But you know what? At least now I'm admitting as such. At least now I'm honestly feeling bad about being so flawed. At least now, early as it may to unrealistically expect it to work, I'm trying to make up for it all."

He nodded his head. "I could just as easily be up to my eyeballs in denial, trying to shift blame left and right nonstop on anyone _but_ me, and all around hardly even trying to make things any better in any way that's truly meaningful. Hell, just the previous day, that's _exactly_ how I was behaving.

"And you know what? I may be doing so unrealistically early, but the fact is that I'm at least trying to make things right. I mean hey, better to try doing so unreasonably early than to put off any such effort for God knows how long and let things only get worse in the process; not to mention better than not putting up any such effort at all."

Zack took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Look, I know that all that stuff you said not too long ago is true. I know that I've crossed some serious lines that will be very difficult, it at all possible, to come back from. I know that it's too early to reasonably expect any meaningful impact to come from trying _this_ early on to make things right again, especially considering this is the 3rd time I've tried to have a talk with you today despite how you've made it brutally clear that you don't want anything to do with me any more than anyone else around here does."

He looked directly at Charlotte once more. "But all I ask right now is to at least consider giving me one tiny little chance to talk and get a few things about this off my chest. 30 minutes of your time. That's all I ask. Or better yet, forget 30 minutes; 20 minutes. That's all I ask. Yes, I know I'm pushing my luck here, but all I ask is you give me 20 minutes of your time to talk, or at least consider doing so. And honest to God, if you really are dead-set against it, then I understand, and I'll gladly go away and leave you alone for the rest of today, and maybe even for all of tomorrow, this coming weekend, and the entirety of next week if I can manage. You have my word. And yes, I know you probably think my word's hardly worth squat after what's happened over the last few days regarding me, but that's better than nothing."

For what seemed like an eternity, Charlotte remained standing where she was, her back still turned. Then, right as Zack was seconds away from departing the area, Charlotte sighed, and turned around to directly face him. She stared straight at Zack, a half irritated and half exhausted look in her bright blue eyes. She took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily. She lifted her eyes back to face Zack once more, and then lifted her finger. "You have 15 minutes," said Charlotte, her voice indicating no room for argument. "That's all I'm allowing. If that's not enough time, too bad. You'll just have to wait to finish another time."

Zack mentally gulped. "I understand." He seemed to think to himself. "Starting now?"

"No."

Charlotte folded her arms across her chest. "Granted, on any other day, yes those minutes would be starting now. But since today's my birthday, I'm gonna be a little more generous." She pointed behind her towards the entrance to what looked like a small alleyway in between the crack house and the building directly to the crack house's left. "We're gonna take this into that alleyway. And as soon as both time and position are sufficient for those 15 minutes to begin, I'll tell you so. No earlier, no later. No more, no less. Capiche?"

Zack mentally gulped again. Charlotte clearly meant business. "Capiche."

"Good." She turned around. "Now come on, before I change my mind."

. . . . .

The boys had no idea how long they'd spent tensed up and watching apprehensively from their hiding place. Quite frankly, neither did they care. But every single one of them couldn't help but raise their eyebrows in confusion when they saw Zack and Charlotte take part in a conversation seemingly without Zack so much as saying a word about the fact that they were hiding nearby, followed by Charlotte turning and walking away from the crack house door and towards a nearby alleyway with Zack following close behind.

"What the?" said Cody.

But then all 6 of the boys found their jaws metaphorically dropping when they saw Zack turn his head directly in the direction of their hiding place, point one finger towards Charlotte and another towards the now unguarded crack house door behind him, and mouthed what sounded something like "I'll distract her, now's your chance! Move! Move! Move!" All this, while he was following Charlotte.

The instant Zack and Charlotte had entered the alleyway nearby, the other boys briefly gaped in stunned silence at the area.

"What the Hell?" Darren asked.

"Are you kidding me?" said Dunlap.

"Whose bloody side is he on?" Calvin hissed.

For a brief moment, Daniel and the rest of the boys, plus Hobbes, all remained confused. Then Daniel realized just how much the current turn of events, unexpected as it was, now seemed to have the potential of benefitting them.

"Never mind whose side he's on," said Daniel. He pointed at the now very conveniently unguarded door to the crack house, slowly starting to rise from hiding. "The most important thing right now is that, whatever the reasons behind it, he's gotten Charlotte out of the way, and now we can get in and save the girls unhindered."

The other boys all looked in the same direction as their leader, all of them slowly realizing that Daniel was correct.

"How do we know this couldn't yet be a trap?" said Cody. "Or that things won't be similarly plenty difficult even without Zack or Charlotte actively trying to hinder us?"

"Well that's a risk we're just going to have to take," said Daniel. "At this point, it doesn't matter how difficult it turns out to be. We've been waiting long enough for an opportunity like this as is, and there's no way I'm turning this one down now that it's finally come. And if the rest of you are smart, neither will any of you."

"Daniel's right," said Calvin. He clenched his right fist, lifting it up soon afterward. "Trap or no trap, the girls need us. And Lord knows how long we've been waiting to get the opportunity to finally come charging in to save them without interference from Charlotte. We may not get another chance if we squander this one. And I don't know about the rest of you guys." He pointed at himself, a determined toothy grin coming on his face and his dark eyes seeming to shine with anticipation. "But this Eggsy ain't gonna fail to save his Roxy."

Daniel raised his eyebrow in confusion upon hearing Calvin refer to himself as the young spy protagonist from the Kingsman movies and Susan as Eggsy's close friend and fellow spy Roxy. "You do realize that those two aren't a couple, right?"

Calvin narrowed his eyes at Daniel in a glare. "Your point being?"

"This is an important conversation right now?"

At the sound of this question, Daniel and Calvin directed momentarily shocked looks towards the rest of the boys, all of whom were now directing either confused or irritated looks their way. Even Hobbes seemed more than a little perplexed as he directed his own eyes towards his master. They looked each other in the eyes. "Right," said Daniel. "Not important."

"Yeah," Calvin agreed. "This can wait till later."

"Good," said Raj. He looked at the alleyway that Zack and Charlotte had disappeared into, and then back at the rest of the boys. "So, what's the plan?"

Daniel took a quick look back at the crack house, then back at the rest of the boys. He pointed at Raj. "Raj," said Daniel. "I want you to double back as far from this immediate area as you can. Once you've just about reached the area from which we entered this neighborhood, I want you to call Mr. Schue, tell him about what's going on here, and have him call the cops and bring them over here." He directed his gaze at the rest of the boys. "The rest of you? You're all with me."

"Why do I have to be the one to get Mr. Schuester and the cops?"

"You're a senior." Daniel lifted his finger as if to emphasize a point. "And you're also the oldest amongst both the New Directions boys, _and_ the current New Directions roster as a whole."

"So?" Raj asked. "Mr. Schue doesn't have any reason not to trust any of us."

"I know," said Daniel. "But the cops aren't guaranteed to have that same level of trust. And if Mr. Schue tells them about this situation, they'll likely find it more believable if the news comes to Mr. Schue from you then if it comes to Mr. Schue from any of the rest of us."

Raj thought to himself. What Daniel said certainly did make sense, to an extent. "You really sure all this is necessary?"

"Better safe than sorry."

"If you say so." Raj looked in the direction Daniel had asked him to head off to. "Why do I have to get so far away from this area before calling?"

Daniel pointed his finger behind him towards the alleyway where Charlotte and Zack were located. "Can't risk Charlotte hearing you sound the alarm. If she knows that Mr. Schuester and the cops might soon be on the way, she could end up trying to make things even more difficult for us in the event Zack fails to stop her."

Raj looked in the direction of the alleyway in question. "Fair enough," he admitted. He nodded his head. "Alright, I'll get on it." He directed his gaze, one by one, at each of the other boys, plus Hobbes. "Good luck guys."

"You to," said Cody.

"Thanks," said Raj. The Indian boy took one last quick look towards the alleyway where Charlotte and Zack were located, and then turned around and rushed off back towards where the boys had entered the neighborhood they were currently in.

Once Raj was out of their sight and earshot, the rest of the boys all looked each other in the eyes, and so did Hobbes. "Alright guys," said Daniel. "You heard the plan." He clapped his hands together, fingers intertwining. "Let's go."

The five boys still in hiding promptly burst up to their feet and dashed across the street with Hobbes following close behind. They all reached the door to the crack house, with Daniel being the first to make it. When he attempted to open the door, however, he learned the hard way that there was one last immediate obstacle for them on the outside of the building. "And it's locked," Daniel groaned. He turned away from the lock, rolling his eyes to Heaven before directing a deadpan gaze at the other boys gathered alongside him. "Because of course it had to be locked."

"Not for long," Calvin snarled. "Step aside."

Daniel, remembering how Calvin had taken care of the locked janitor's closet door earlier that very day, promptly took a step backwards to the right of the door. The other three boys, while initially hesitant, eventually stepped aside as well. Hobbes, of course, had gotten out of the way mere seconds after hearing his master say the words 'step aside'. And as Hobbes and the boys watched, Calvin took a step back, crouching in the process, then lunged forward and slammed his right foot against the locked door with a powerful stomp kick. Miraculously enough, just as had been the case with the janitor's closet door, the force of Calvin's kick was enough to forcibly open the locked door. No sooner had the crack house door slammed against the inner wall directly to its left and Calvin straightened back into upright position from his stomp kick when Daniel promptly shouted, "Alright! Now's our chance!"

At the sound of this, Cody and the two sophomores, plus Calvin and Hobbes swiftly rushed through the now unblocked entrance to the crack house right at the same time Daniel shouted, "Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move!" No sooner had Calvin and Hobbes entered the crack house when Daniel himself rushed in close behind the autistic boy and therapy dog while simultaneously roaring out one final "MOVE!" And at the exact same moment that Daniel unleashed that last shout, Calvin unleashed a similarly loud velociraptor-like shriek.

Meanwhile, in the alleyway not too far away, Charlotte's eyes widened at the sound of all this, her mind completely spacing out on what Zack had been in the midst of saying as the first coherent thought to come to her mind upon realizing just what was now going on was a stunned and slightly bitter, "Shit."

. . . . .

Five minutes prior, the five girls stuck inside the crack house had turned out to have actually managed to hold their own quite well for a surprisingly long amount of time following the beginning of their battle to defend themselves against the vicious group of unscrupulous adult men in the building. For some reason, the men had all clearly been expecting a ludicrously easy victory. This had been proven quite clearly in just how little the men had appeared to have taken the girls as a serious threat. For starters, half the men had just charged wildly towards the girls screaming incoherently like fools with zero clear strategy in mind. The other half, on the other hand, had very painfully obviously held back in their attacks.

Considering how much time had now passed since the beginning of the battle, it was quite obvious how big of a mistake the men had committed into taking such approaches. At that moment, at least 7 of the men were unconscious, or similarly out of commission. The men who weren't out of commission were also finding themselves getting a decent beating from the girls as a result of their slapdash and careless initial approach in handling them. And out of all the girls, Susan and Diana had by far appeared to have caused the most damage and dealt the most hits. Of course, Naomi had also managed to deal a respectable amount of hits and damage as well with her cane.

Unfortunately, around three minutes later, things were now starting to slowly look as if things could potentially start swinging in favor of the raptor men. As of now, all the men that weren't out of commission, which even now _still_ outnumbered the portion that _were_ out of commission, appeared to have learned from their careless prior efforts at taking out the girls, and were now all hanging out of reach, appeared to be rethinking their strategy, and appeared to be waiting for an ideal moment to enact a new and improved plan of attack. The girls, for that matter, were only getting themselves further close to being at a major disadvantage with the current state they were gradually getting into. Naomi's cane swings were starting to get wilder and more unfocused. Amber seemed practically seconds away from breaking down into a panic. And the three juniors amongst the girls, while neither on the verge of panic, nor getting sloppy in their attacks, were clearly starting to feel and look tired. And judging from the smug grins that were starting to form on the faces of several of the men, the attackers clearly knew it to, and were now just biding their time for the girls to make so much as the slightest mistake, or perhaps collapse or falter from exhaustion.

At that point, Diana and Susan narrowed their eyes, gritted their teeth, and mentally steeled themselves. In stark contrast, Bailey was now starting to clearly pant despite her fists remaining clenched, Naomi continued blindly swinging her cane at thin air around her while also panting, and Amber now looked even more on the verge of breaking down panicking or crying. The two female leads of the New Directions directed a glare at the remaining adult men, who were now all starting to chuckle as well as grin, keeping their eyes narrowed and fighting with all their willpower to keep themselves from panting or similarly showing any sign of exhaustion or fear. Despite this façade, however, Diana still found herself mentally praying. "God," she thought to herself. "If you're real, can hear me, and see what's going on right now, you'd better not let this end badly for us. You hear me? You'd better let us get out of this alive and in one piece. I swear to you; somehow or other, you'd better allow us to be saved or similarly get out of this. . ."

As if God Himself indeed _had_ been listening at that very moment, Diana's mental praying was soundly interrupted by the sound of a thunderous slamming noise coming from right where the door was located. The girls and adult men had barely even enough time for their eyes to widen and faces to similarly indicate their surprise at the noise when the air was suddenly split further by the sound of a loud, "Alright! Now's our chance!"

As one, all the crack house occupants that weren't unconscious or similarly out of commission turned their heads towards the now indeed very wide-open door right as the same voice that had shouted not too long ago proceeded to yell, "Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move!" The sight of the familiar bespectacled Korean American boy, prosthetic legged albino boy, and apparently yellow eyed redhead boy charging into the crack house was plenty reason enough for the girls to almost instantly feel a rapidly increasing sense of relief. But this same relief only increased tenfold when an equally familiar blonde boy and German shepherd came rushing in right behind the first three boys, and were in turn followed immediately afterward by a similarly familiar dark haired and gray eyed boy who promptly shouted one last blaring loud, "MOVE!" while the blonde boy simultaneously emitted a now both hugely ironic and heavily welcome velociraptor-like shriek of challenge.

All this was enough to cause the girls to close their eyes and sigh in relief. "Thank you," Diana thought to herself and towards God.

The adult men were still trying to fully get their minds in gear and acknowledge the unexpected entrance of the apparent reinforcements that had just arrived on the girls' behalf when said reinforcements proceeded to ram into several of them and have them knocked and shoved out of the way before skidding to a stop in close proximity to each of their respective close female friends, with Hobbes in particular masterfully skidding to a stop himself directly to the side of Susan opposite the one his master positioned himself at, snarling viciously in anticipation of what he suspected would be a ferocious battle for him in the near future.

All the raptor men, including the ones who'd just gotten shoved aside by the boys, all managed to get their minds back in gear and look straight at the 10 teenagers and single dog in time for Daniel to growl, narrow his gray eyes, and clench his fists. "You want a piece of our friends?" He pointed a finger at himself, while keeping his other hand clenched into a fist. "You're gonna have to go through us; _all_ of us!"

"Yeah!" Dunlap howled, his red eyes wide and burning with rage, and his fists clenched and raised upwards.

"Yah!" Darren shouted, his yellow eye similarly hardened into a nightmarish look as he drew his guitar out from its sheath on his back and spun it around like a quarterstaff.

"ROAR!" Calvin roared like a lion.

"AROO!" Hobbes howled simultaneously like a wolf.

"Best not get these broken," Cody said calmly as he took off his glasses, folded them, and slipped them into his pants pocket before taking on what looked like a martial arts pose.

The ringleader of the raptor tattooed men, the same man who'd initially spoken with Scott before the attack had begun, narrowed his eyes. He pointed his finger at the united group of teenagers in front of him, too angry to think clearly now. "Attack!" he yelled. The men started to surge towards the younger occupants of the building. It took only seconds for the 10 teens and single dog to fight back against the attacking adult men. And for a solid 10 to 15 minutes, things drastically swung back in the teens' favor. The fact that the girls had all been seemingly revitalized by the arrival of the boys certainly helped to.

Bailey simply let any attackers dumb enough to come after her have it with simple punches and kicks while Cody used his dancing skills to artful effect to both dodge _and_ attack; at one point seemingly pirouetting a full 13 times at once to avoid getting hit by 7 men trying to punch him at once before then giving the man on the far left of the group a swift jumping spin kick to the head that resulted in all 7 of the luckless thugs toppling over each other like dominoes onto their sides.

"Nice work," said Bailey immediately after she punched one man in the face and knocked him back away from her.

"Thanks," Cody said before then whirling to his left and punching another man away.

"Where's Raj?" asked Bailey.

"Outside calling Mr. Schue," said Cody. He stomped on the foot of another man rushing towards him, kicked him in the balls when the man paused from getting his foot stomped, and then punched the thug in the face and sent him stumbling backwards. "And if we're lucky, Mr. Schue will also be able to bring the cops over here when he shows up to help."

"Well that's good to hear," said Bailey. She then elbowed another attacker in the gut, then picked up a chair and swung it against the side of his head, knocking him out.

Darren and Amber were similarly fighting off attackers, with a now noticeably more confident Amber once again putting full force behind her blows while Darren did the same with his own kicks and punches while also adding in the odd smack or similar blow from his guitar. Simultaneously, Dunlap was also bringing serious pain to the men trying to attack him and Naomi with almost nothing but kicks with his immensely hard and cold metallic legs and feet while also providing some much-appreciated verbal assistance to Naomi as she continued swinging her cane at her own assailants, at one point even grabbing onto the cane alongside her and guiding her swings.

Calvin and Hobbes proved particularly vicious over the course of their battle being fought alongside Susan. Both the autistic boy and his faithful therapy dog were fighting literally tooth and nail as well as with fists and feet as they savagely took on whatever foes were stupid enough to come at them and simultaneously unleashing a seemingly endless storm of roars, howls, snarls, growls, and barks. Susan, for that matter, was plenty vicious herself. Not only was she punching and kicking with all the strength she could muster, but also kneeing, elbowing, occasionally biting, twice grabbing one of the long-haired attackers by the hair and tugging at it painfully hard, and at one point even picking up a stake knife and stabbing it right through one of the men's hands and pinning it to the bar after he placed his hands on there following his getting himself to a stop from a fall against said bar.

Daniel and Diana, however, were the one group of fighters who had absolutely zero sense of elegance, savagery, or over elaborateness in fighting amongst either fighter. "Dear God, I'm so glad you and the boys showed up," said Diana as she punched out yet another attacker.

"I hear you Diana," said Daniel as he punched away one man to his right, kicked the privates of another man to his left, and then grabbed two men directly in front of him by the heads and then slamming their heads together. "In all honesty," he continued, "we would have been in here a whole lot sooner if Charlotte hadn't been outside guarding the door. Heck, surprisingly enough, Zack actually came by on his own and distracted her for us, even silently indicating for us to get in here while he kept her busy. Can you believe that?"

Diana's eyes briefly widened at both what Zack had apparently done and the impression that Daniel and the rest of the boys appeared to be under regarding Charlotte's level of involvement. "Well actually," she began.

Then they heard more men coming at them and screaming. "We'll finish this talk later," said Diana.

"Agreed," said Daniel. Their fight promptly resumed.

However, as much as the odds seemed to be in their favor, the teens and dog were not going to last against the 'raptor men' forever and would very likely be overwhelmed if either they didn't decisively defeat the adult thugs or within the next 5-10 minutes, or Raj, Mr. Schuester, and the cops didn't arrive within a similar amount of time. And Calvin at least was fully aware of this matter to.

"These thugs aren't going to keep up this losing streak against us forever," he thought to himself as he kicked and punched away another couple of thugs attempting to attack him. "Sooner or later," he continued thinking to himself while simultaneously fighting, "they'll get over their shock and disorientation from our arrival. And once they've gotten acclimatized to these new battle conditions, we'll almost certainly be goners." He managed to take down the last of his current attackers, and took advantage of the reprieve he'd now gotten himself to look around the area. "There's gotta be some way to decisively take them down real swift within the next few minutes. But how. . .?"

He caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye, and he turned his head in time to see what looked like a desk, a computer, an array of plugs and other equipment, and a notebook gathered around on what was supposed to be the 'stage' for karaoke. But what really caught his attention was the sight of the words 'Personal Tech/Computer/Communications Array Instruction Guide' written in pen on the cover, plus a sticker underneath these words with 'Property of Scott Grayback' written on it.

"Awfully convenient," Calvin thought to himself. "But I'm certainly not gonna turn down a potential stroke of good luck in a situation like this." He rushed over to the desk, the rest of the building's occupants either unconscious or too busy fighting their respective battles to notice what he was currently up to. Calvin snatched up the notebook upon reaching the desk, sat down on the conveniently positioned chair in front of the desk, and opened up the notebook. His eyebrow raised once more when he saw the very first words at the top of the very first page. "Seriously?" he thought to himself. "The password for this computer is one of the very first words written in here?" He raised his eyebrow. "Whoever got hired to work with this stuff must be a serious rookie." His eyes then narrowed when he looked at the server and discovered that the computer appeared to merely be in sleep mode rather than fully turned off. "And pretty darned careless too."

But Calvin was smart enough to know not to second guess good luck when he had it, and so he 'woke up' the computer and typed in the password: 'DEINOCHILLORAPTOR'. The fact that the password was a combination of 'deinonychus,' 'achillobator,' and 'velociraptor' was not lost on him. "These guys must _really_ be fans of 'raptor' dinosaurs," he thought to himself. "Not to mention be huge Jurassic Park trivia nerds." He looked carefully, yet quickly, through the notebook and computer, trying to figure out how this matter could potentially be of use. Then he seemed to realize something important. He looked back at the chaos unfolding in front of him, now finally noticing how, apart from one man who seemed to be the ringleader, virtually all of the adult men still conscious and fighting seemed to show signs of very likely being extremely drunk or high. Furthermore, all of them had what appeared to be com-link devices attached to their ears. He then looked at what he had available on the computer as well as the information noted down in the notebook, and a smile came on his face. "I know just what to do," he thought to himself. In a flash, he started opening up the necessary programs, typing up what needed to be typed, and similarly working with the tech and instructions he had to set up what he'd now planned.

For another ten minutes, the battling continued to unfold amongst the teens, dog, and 'raptor men'. And at the exact same time, Calvin continued working as quickly, yet carefully, as possible to fully set up his newly thought up plan for putting the chaos to an end before the 'raptor men' could successfully get the chance to have luck swing back in their favor. Nearing the end of these 10 minutes, slight signs started to show of the raptor men getting gradually closer to the moment in which luck would swing back in their favor. And miraculously enough, absolutely none of the active fighters noticed what Calvin was up to.

"Com-links active," Calvin whispered to himself as he proceeded to make note of the preparations on his mental checklist that he'd successfully made. "Connection to main Raptor communication network disabled." He pointed and looked carefully at a nearby microphone. "Connection to microphone established." He took note of several devices high up on the walls that looked a lot like intercom speakers or similar such devices. "Secondary connection to local building intercom speakers established." Upon making note of this, he checked the com-links settings program window he'd opened up, a smile slowly starting to form on his face as he realized just how few preparations he now had left to check off his mental list before his plan could be successfully carried out. "Com-link volume limit set to max." He then switched back to a different program and proceeded to make the necessary adjustment he needed. "Microphone volume set to max." His grin widened, his black eyes agleam with triumph. He had only one thing left to do. But first. . .

"Cover your ears!"

At the sound of this shout from Calvin, all the combatants turned their heads. But while all the raptor men very noticeably looked stunned and confused, Hobbes and Calvin's fellow gleeks took only a few seconds for their shocked expressions to turn to first wide-eyed surprise, and then comprehension, and they all swiftly covered their ears, with Hobbes even going so far as to completely lay down on the ground with his front paws pressing firmly against the top of his head and laid down ears. In that instant, with his friends having now prepared themselves thanks to Calvin's warning, and the raptor men still very clearly stunned and mentally blank from confusion, Calvin turned the microphone on, thrusted his head into position, and roared into it with all his might in what had to have been one of the most intense t-rex impressions he'd ever managed.

Even with their ears covered, Hobbes and Calvin's fellow gleeks couldn't help but wince, grit their teeth, and clench their eyes shut from what they _did_ manage to hear. For the raptor men, however, the devastatingly loud t-rex-like roar had a considerably stronger effect due to the combination of the noise being blasted literally right into their ears from their suddenly active com-links, the volume limits for all the devices involved being set to maximum, and how all but one of the men had now turned out to be especially susceptible to auditory sensory overload from being immensely drunk or high. The one conscious man who was neither drunk nor high, the ringleader, was nonetheless very strongly affected himself thanks to the sheer volume. And it wasn't until he found himself the only one amongst his men who was neither unconscious, nor curled up on the floor either unconscious, blubbering incoherently, or screaming in agony that he finally noticed the one boy standing at the computer with a wild look on his face roaring into the microphone. Gritting his teeth and snarling from determination and discomfort, he started slowly trying to stumble over towards the boy.

Calvin noticed the one man now trying to fight through the discomfort of the roar, and proceeded to double his efforts. And for what seemed like an eternity, Calvin and the raptor men ringleader found themselves in a stalwart battle of willpower as the ringleader tried his damned hardest to power his way through the discomfort of the loud noise in his ears and reach the desk so he could take out the boy responsible for the roar and Calvin continued to pour more and more vocal effort into his roar in an equally unyielding effort to overwhelm the single attacker left standing.

As this strange 'duel' unfolded, and the majority of the other crack house occupants could do little more than either watch or remain in a horrifically incapacitated state, Daniel managed to fight his way through his own sense of discomfort and slowly make his way towards Calvin's location, all while keeping his eyes and mind on one important detail; out of all the adult men in the building, the group's apparent ringleader appeared to have been the only one to have brought a gun and have it on him.

Eventually, after a heart stopping moment where it seemed that the ringleader was just a few footsteps away from getting ahold of Calvin and taking him out, Calvin's roar finally seemed to do the trick, and with a piercing scream of agony, the man slapped his hands over his ears, closed his eyes, and crumpled to his knees. And as luck would have it, it was at that exact moment that Daniel reached his own intended position. And after mentally steeling himself up as best as he could, Daniel removed his hands from his ears, snatched the man's pistol out of its holster, and smack it against the back of his head.

In that instant, the man stopped screaming and widened his eyes with shock from the blow, and Calvin simultaneously stopped roaring. Then right as the man seemed about to look in Daniel's direction, Calvin throttled him with a swift jabbing punch straight to the jaw. The man managed to gulp, direct his full wide-eyed and stunned gaze at Calvin, and gurgle in pain and disorientation before his eyes rolled into his head, and he collapsed on the ground flat on his back, completely out cold.

For a few seconds, Calvin and Daniel observed the now unconscious ringleader of the group of raptor men, panting and gasping from both triumph and relief. The rest of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, also watched, similarly exhausted and relieved. Then Calvin smiled, took one last glimpse at all the unconscious or similarly incapacitated thugs, then smiled back at his friends. Then he took a deep breath, exhaled, and lowered his head back into position at the microphone. Calvin's friends swiftly covered their ears once more just in time for Calvin to let out a final triumphant t-rex-like roar into the microphone.

 **And just like that, another chapter finally done and posted! REALLY hope you enjoyed this chapter, found it well worth the wait, and leave a respectable amount of feedback. Remember, I require a minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter in order to post the next chapter upon its completion. Again, I REALLY hope you enjoyed this chapter! And before I leave, I now take full responsibility for any unrealistic or inaccurate elements to be found within this chapter, and also apologize for them. Again, hope you enjoyed and leave a respectable amount of feedback. Happy Thanksgiving!**

 **Coming up Next: With the 'raptor men' group present at the crack house now out of commission, Raj arrives with Mr. Schue and the cops in tow just in time for justice to be served. And in the process, the gleeks (and the readers) manage to learn a pretty big detail about Charlotte and her family (as well as just why she was so reluctant to call the cops to the area herself). And a little while after that, one Coach Sue Sylvester has a much needed discussion with Charlotte after almost getting into legal trouble herself thanks to some unintended circumstantial evidence on Charlotte's part. And once that's out of the way, Mr. Schuester, the gleeks, and their families have some much needed time together as well. Sound complicated? Probably. Sound worth waiting for? Sure hope so.**


	23. Everything Will Be Alright

**Hey everyone! MAN I took WAY too long! I SO meant to have this done in December last year! But then I found myself so busy with school work, and then I ended up swamped with preparations for a vacation my family and I were to have the entire week before Christmas, then I was busy having fun on that week-long vacation (which was in Tokyo, Japan I might add), then my family and I ended up stuck and SPENDING THE NIGHT (INCLUDING SLEEPING) at the airport on the Saturday in which we were supposed to return home (but thankfully got home the very next day, Christmas Eve no less), and then there was Christmas, and then a good few other things got in the way to prevent me from finishing this chapter any earlier than I've now currently gotten it finished. But nonetheless, at long last, it is finally done! I SO hope you read, review, and enjoy this chapter! And that it proves WELL WORTH the long wait I've put you through. And that being said, Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!**

 **A/N: For the first time this new Year, I shall remind you that I do not own Glee or any other elements owned by higher legal powers than myself that may or may not be in this chapter. That being said, onward with the fic! Lord knows you've been waiting long enough for this new chapter!**

 **Chapter 23:**

 **Everything Will Be Alright**

It was the sound of blaring sirens that finally awoke Scott Grayback, and he groaned groggily from where he'd fallen unconscious on the floor of the crack house. For another few minutes, Scott groggily, and with great effort, forced himself back to his feet and fully awake. After another few minutes spent dizzily observing the area around him, he managed to look towards the door, and his eyes widened as he caught sight of the clearly forced open door, saw what appeared to be flashing blue and red lights outside that promptly allowed him to realize the source of the siren noises, and fully realized exactly what he'd just now seen inside the building over the course of his earlier unfocused observations.

And indeed, what he saw within the building did not bode well. For not only was the door gaping open (and clearly forced open considering he could still see the lock sticking out of its sheath despite the door being open), but every single one of the men from the squadron he'd arranged to be present for this job was either unconscious or groaning and curled up in pain and discomfort, and the five girls who had been stuck inside with him at the time of his being knocked out were nowhere to be found. And judging by the apparent presence of police outside the crack house, it was clear that things were only about to get worse.

He rushed straight towards the very back of the room, straight towards where he knew the door to a back-entrance corridor was located. He had just opened this very door when he suddenly took note of another couple details. He turned his head to look back in time to notice that, as he'd just now come to realize, his wig and sunglasses from earlier had slipped off his head after he'd gotten knocked out and were now lying on the floor where his head had been. He briefly considered running back to get them, but then the continued sound of the police sirens returned to his ears and he promptly decided against it.

"Forget it," he thought to himself as he turned his head away from his now effectively discarded wig and sunglasses, slipped through the door, and closed it behind him. "I need to get out of here. And besides, having them on me would only serve to instantly incriminate me in the event I get caught by the police after leaving this area."

He had just reached the halfway point of the corridor leading to the back exit when he paused, his eyes widened in horror as he finally realized another matter that effectively rendered getting caught by the police the least of his worries. He gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut, mentally wincing as he thought of the hardly any better possible fate to befall him in the near future if he avoided capture by the cops. "Dad's gonna kill me," he thought to himself. For a brief moment, he strongly considered just turning back around and giving himself up to the cops. But then he realized that doing so would very likely be viewed as a 'coward's way out' and that it would be at least somewhat better for him to just man up and take whatever punishment would potentially come upon him from his father. And so, steeling himself up, and taking a deep breath, he resumed his hurried run to the back exit and departed from the crack house entirely.

. . . . .

"You sure you're all ok?"

Bailey and Cody both looked at Raj, a half annoyed, and half touched look on both of their faces at Raj's continuing concern for them and the rest of the gleeks who'd been inside the crack house.

"Yes Raj," said Bailey. "We're fine.

"We're good," Cody said simply.

Daniel scoffed. "No thanks to her," he then said while directing a glare towards Charlotte out of the corner of his eyes.

Calvin noticed this side glance towards Charlotte, and he snarled in assent. "I'm with you bro," he promptly agreed, Hobbes snarling in apparent agreement as well. It didn't take long for the rest of the boys apart from Zack to nod their heads in agreement. Zack directed a perplexed glare at the other boys, Charlotte sighed, and hung her head in a mixture of shame and exasperation, and the other girls looked each other in the eyes while silently vowing to make sure in the future that their friends were made aware of the full story.

At that moment, Susan looked a couple feet in front of herself and the group, and pointed out what she saw. "I think we're about to get questioned."

Daniel's shoulders slumped, his gray eyes narrowed in half irritation and half exhaustion. "Again?"

It had been now at least a half hour since the cops had arrived, and this arrival had occurred at least 5 minutes or so after all the raptor men in the crack house had been defeated in the battle from earlier. And of course, Raj and Mr. Schuester had been right at the 'helm,' so to speak, in arriving at the area. And now, with all but a small number of the still woozy and disoriented adult thugs loaded up to be taken to prison, it now appeared that the cops had deemed it ok for some of them to split off to start asking questions to the people present that _didn't_ need to be arrested. . . for apparently the 3rd time.

Two cops, one of them rather thin and the other fat, were now walking towards the teens and dog. They came to a stop, and the fat one pointed his hand to indicate the entire group. "Which one of you is Calvin Madison?"

Calvin's eyes narrowed at the blunder. "That's Calvin Martenson, thank you." The autistic boy folded his arms across his chest, clearly still somewhat peeved at how the cop had messed up on his surname, and took three steps forward so he was directly in front of the cops and in between them and the rest of his peers. "Can you show me some identification?"

The two cops looked at each other, shrugged, and then each drew out their identification and handed them to Calvin.

Calvin's eyebrow promptly rose upon sight of the picture on the fat cop's I.D. He lifted his head to look straight at the cop in question, a noticeably confused look on his face. He looked back at the photo. He looked back at the cop. He looked back at the photo. He looked back at the cop. "You sir," he then said while pointing at the fat cop, "are clearly either an imposter, or have gained an unhealthy amount of weight since you had this picture taken."

"Oh, for God's sake Calvin," said Susan. He turned his head to face her. "Let them in!"

Calvin seemed to think to himself, and then he looked back at the two cops. "The lady has spoken," he then said. "I shall let you in." He handed the cops I.D.s back to them and took three steps backward so they could properly come forward for questioning.

The fat cop was about to take a step forward when he heard his partner chuckling. He turned his head and glared. "He's telling the truth you know," said the thin cop. Said thin cop looked over at his partner, a giddy smile on his face. "You really do need to get a new picture for your I.D."

The fat cop groaned, rolling his eyes. "Shut up and get to work," he grumbled before then stepping forward to do his job. The thin cop chuckled, rolled his eyes in amusement, and stepped forward to join his partner.

Meanwhile, Mr. Schuester was now having a similar talk with none other than the captain.

"Well I'll definitely admit your informant was telling the truth."

The teacher nodded. "Glad to hear that."

Police captain Wesley Benedict nodded his own head, and took a quick look towards the raptor men that were still being loaded up for transport to the precinct. "Indeed, and it's a damn good thing we were smart enough to come along. God knows how much time we'd spent up till now forced to grudgingly let this raptor group continue whatever business they were up to in there due to lack of proof. But now, admittedly thanks to events that I definitely wouldn't have preferred to have had to happen, we're finally able to get a sizable portion of this here group to justice. And depending on what else we find around here, we might very well be able to convict at least the entirety of this particular portion for a good long while." He looked over at the assorted teens that were, alongside a dog, currently getting questioned by two of his subordinate officers, and looked back at Mr. Schuester. "So," he then said. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you the director of that local glee club? The New Directions, am I right?"

"Correct," said Mr. Schuester. "On both the club's name, and my being the director."

"Good, good," said the captain. He thought to himself. "Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but the time in which your students were out and about in this area; wasn't that supposed to be around the time you'd have been holding your after-school session of your club?"

"Yes," said Mr. Schuester. "Why do you ask?"

Benedict narrowed his eyes in an almost perplexed look, and Mr. Schuester mentally facepalmed. "Of course," the teacher thought to himself. "Stupid question."

"As I was pretty sure you would have expected," said Benedict, "the next logical question would be," he gestured towards the gleeks and the dog. "Why were they out here and not at school practicing for the glee club?"

Mr. Schuester sighed. "I decided to cancel today's after-school session."

The police captain raised his eyebrow. "May I ask why?"

"I felt I needed a break today," Mr. Schuester answered truthfully. "There was so much drama going on this week, and I felt I needed time to cool down."

"Really now?" Captain Benedict chuckled. "From what I've heard of this club's reputation for drama, I thought you'd be well used to it all by now."

Mr. Schuester sighed. Even now he still couldn't fully wrap his head around just how widespread and strong of a reputation his club had developed over the years. "A fair point officer, I will admit to that." The teacher took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But you've got to understand. All that drama you've brought up, it usually doesn't start to really pile on until the 2nd full week of the school term at the earliest. And yes, the 1st full week of a school year is rarely ever truly devoid of any drama where the glee club is concerned. But again, that very drama doesn't start to really pop up nonstop until at least the 2nd week. And with how much drama was popping up in this club over just this 1st full week alone?" He sighed again. "I know this probably sounds a little difficult to believe, but I'm still not used to having to deal with such a quick rate of drama popping up _this_ early in a school year for this club."

Captain Benedict thought to himself, seemingly taking Mr. Schuester's words into very careful consideration. After what seemed like an eternity to the teacher, the captain nodded his head, seeming to reach a decision. "Well, considering I don't personally work with these students of yours, let alone your glee club in general, I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it on that matter."

Mr. Schuester let a small smile or relief come on his face. "Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"For now, I do hope it to be a good thing. Lord knows I don't need a reason to get the chief involved after having not too long ago convinced him that his direct involvement wouldn't be necessary for this case."

Benedict turned his head to direct a short glance at the 13 students he'd just been talking about not too long ago, and just happened to still be in the midst of a talk with two of his subordinate officers. He looked back at Mr. Schuester. "If you don't mind," he began. "I do believe now would be a good time for me to have a little talk with your students myself."

Mr. Schuester thought to himself. "Um . . . sure," he said. He gestured towards his 13 students. "Go ahead."

"Thank you."

The captain turned away from the teacher and made his way over to where the 13 gleeks and single dog were gathered.

"That's enough boys," said Benedict as he took the last few steps to reach the area. The two subordinate cops turned their heads to look behind them. The captain nodded upon seeing the two subordinates' eyebrows rise. "I'll take it from here."

The two cops seemed to consider the matter, and then nodded in acknowledgement. "If you say so boss." They departed.

The captain got into position. "Good afternoon," he said.

The gleeks all responded in kind. "I hope this doesn't take too long," Cody then said. "Because right now, you're the 4th cop to come to us for questioning."

The other gleeks all glared at him. Even Calvin and Hobbes looked less than approving of what Cody had just said. "Dude," Calvin thought to himself. "I'm autistic, and even _I_ know to be more respectful then that in a situation like this."

Captain Benedict, surprisingly enough, seemed not too unhappy with Cody's not entirely polite statement. "Indeed," he then said. "But if my current intuition is correct, everyone who's currently questioned you before me has focused entirely on what happened during the fight itself, if not the events leading up to it from the boys' perspective. . ."

"Tell us something we don't know," said Cody.

"As I was saying," the captain continued, his eyes now noticeably narrowed into a glare straight at Cody.

The bespectacled Korean American gulped, and took a step backwards with his hands raised in a placatory gesture. It was now quite clear that he'd be wise not to test the captain's patience further, especially considering he'd now apparently interrupted him and essentially been rude to him twice in a row. The other gleeks, Hobbes included, smirked at him. Raj, however, looked considerably smugger compared to the dog and the rest of the gleeks.

"Would it perhaps be accurate for me to guess that none of my underlings have bothered to ask for any details on the events leading up to this incident from the girls' side of the story?"

The gleeks all thought to themselves, although Charlotte looked considerably more nervous now compared to the rest.

"You know," said Susan. "You'd think someone would have thought to ask about that by now."

"A fair point," Calvin agreed. Hobbes barked thrice to indicate his own agreement.

"Indeed," said the captain. He smiled. "Perhaps, then, I could go ahead and get on with that?" He directed another glare at Cody. "Unless there's more you wish to say beforehand."

Cody let a sheepish half grimace come on his face. If he hadn't been suitably chastened not too long before this moment, he certainly was now. "No sir," he said. "You go ahead."

"Splendid," said Benedict. "So, which of you ladies would like to talk first?"

The girls thought to themselves, and then seemed to unanimously decide on Diana, who stepped forward. "I'm ready if you are," she said.

The captain was indeed ready, and the next few minutes passed with the captain asking questions and Diana answering to the best of her ability with help from the other girls.

"Duly noted," said the captain as he noted down the full answer to the latest question he'd asked. He then thought to himself. "So, which of you was responsible for bringing the rest of you over here exactly?"

Charlotte seemed very noticeably about to try to hide, but any attempt at trying to avoid the spotlight was promptly foiled when the other five girls, plus all 7 of the boys, Zach included, pointed right at her. Even Hobbes extended his right front paw towards her and shook it back and forth a few times. Charlotte winced, teeth gritted as she realized that there'd be no escape for her now.

"I see," said Benedict as he briefly took a glance at her. He positioned his head to get a better look at her, his mouth opening as if about to ask another question, only for him to pause, his eyebrow raised in a clear 'Wait a minute,' expression. He seemed to lean his head forward, eyes now narrowed in concentration as he continued to gaze at Charlotte. It was now clear, judging from the captain's behavior, that he potentially knew Charlotte from somewhere. And judging by how increasingly nervous and embarrassed Charlotte seemed to be becoming, the gleeks had a feeling that it was not necessarily a good thing. Though just for whom this news was a bad thing, they had no idea just yet.

"Your name," Captain Benedict asked.

Charlotte winced again, her eyes now tightly clenched shut alongside her gritted teeth.

"Your name," the captain repeated.

Charlotte seemed to only pause further, prompting the other gleeks to raise their eyebrows. Even Hobbes seemed to raise his own eyebrow, apparently just as confused and dumbfounded as his master.

"Your name please," said the captain.

Charlotte sighed. "Thornton," she responded. She looked straight at the captain, a nervous smile on her face. "Charlotte Thornton."

At the sound of this, the other gleeks were quite stunned to see the captain's eyes apparently widen for a split second before he then grimaced. Even Hobbes couldn't help but widen his eyes at the unexpected response. Then the captain sighed, rolled his eyes to Heaven, and drew out his communicator with what seemed like reluctance.

"What the Devil?" all the gleeks apart from Charlotte thought to themselves. Even Mr. Schuester, who was watching from a couple feet away, couldn't help but wonder what on Earth was going on.

The captain lifted the communicator up to his mouth and activated it, sending a call in the process.

"Yes?" said a voice on the opposite end of the communicator; a voice that Charlotte herself knew all too well.

"Chief," said Captain Benedict. "Strike what I said earlier. It appears you may be needed here after all."

"Why?" asked the chief on the other end. The other gleeks, Hobbes, and Mr. Schuester had the exact same question on their minds and unvoiced.

"Your daughter is involved," said the captain.

The eyes of all the other gleeks promptly widened at the sound of this. Mr. Schuester also looked surprised. Even Hobbes clearly looked rather stunned for a dog. Charlotte, however, merely winced, her eyes closed and teeth gritted once more.

"Which one?"

The captain raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Come again?"

"Which one?" Chief Horace Thornton repeated, now clearly sounding more than a little irritated. "I have _two_."

The captain winced briefly, but swiftly recovered. "The elder one," he responded. "Charlotte."

An audible sigh was heard from the police chief's end of the communication. "Why am I not surprised," he seemed to grumble under his breath. Then another sigh was heard. "Alright," said the chief. "Wait right where you are. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Understood chief," said Benedict. The captain seemed to think to himself. "You know what?" he then said. "Before you hang up, I'd like to mention that, depending on what information we learn within the next hour or so, there's someone amongst the faculty at your daughter's high school that I have a feeling we may need to have a little talk with."

. . . . .

"So, you admit," said the now half pissed off and half smugly satisfied Chief Horace Thornton, "that you knowingly, and willingly, allowed my daughter, _your_ head cheerleader, to play hooky for today's afternoon practice in pursuit of her little 'errand'? Yes, or no?"

For a brief few seconds, Sue Sylvester was lost for words, her mind completely blank as she struggled to figure out just what to say in response. As of now, she'd spent at least 15 minutes or so in the company of three policemen standing before her in her office, and she appeared to be sliding towards gradually shakier ground with each second that passed.

"Yes," she eventually managed to respond.

One of the two cops alongside the chief lifted his notebook and took note of the response.

"Thank you," said the chief. "Now, answer me this. Were you aware of exactly what it was that Charlotte was going to be up to for this 'errand' of hers? Yes or no?"

"No."

The chief raised his eyebrow, clearly not 100% convinced.

"I mean it," said Sue. "I honest to God, did not know the full nature of what your daughter was up to. Yes, she told me that she had business she wished to attend to that would make it necessary for her to skip cheer practice today, but all I knew about that business was that it was supposedly merely something important. I knew nothing more, nothing less."

"And you believed her?"

"I had no reason to do otherwise," Sue responded. She shook her head side to side as if in a daze. "She'd never given me any reason not to trust her before now."

"Really?"

The chief folded his arms across his chest. "Are you not aware of the crusade my daughter's been on for the last few years to romantically link herself up with this school's current quarterback?"

"I am aware of that matter sir," said Sue. "I fail to see how that is relevant. . ."

"Are you not aware of the lengths she's been willing to go to over the years for this goal?" the chief asked. "Of the extremes she's been willing to consider these days? Of the depths she's considered stooping to lately?"

"I am perfectly well aware of all that," said Sue. "And again, I fail to see what this has to do with. . ."

"And yet, you saw no reason not to trust her regarding this, quote-on-quote, 'errand' of hers?"

Sue's unfinished question promptly died, as did all her immediate thoughts of response. The chief raised his eyebrow at the coach's pause. Sue sighed. "Ok, I'll admit, you have a fair point." She lifted her head to face him and his two underlings once more. "But again, I'm telling the truth. I had no idea of the full extent of what she was up to." Her eyes narrowed as she thought of another detail. "For that matter, strictly out of curiosity, why is any possibility of me being in any way directly involved with all this such a big priority for you right now? Shouldn't you be placing higher focus on searching for that boy you say she claims to have tricked her into coming to the crack house with those other girls?"

"It would certainly help to know whether or not you were in league with that boy," said the chief.

Sue's eyes widened in stunned fury. "Are you kidding me?!"

Chief Thornton raised his eyebrow. "We cannot ignore the possibility." He pointed his finger at the coach. "And for that matter, not only is it common knowledge in Lima that you definitely have the money to afford pulling off something like this, but you also have plenty of shady elements and rumors in your life that point against you in this situation."

Sue's eyes narrowed. "You can't be serious about this," she growled. "You have no proof!"

"You know," said the police chief, clearly undaunted. "This isn't the 1st time you've said something along those lines." He pointed his finger at her once more. "You said something very similar about leaking this club's setlist to their competition during the 2009 show choir Sectionals competition, even when it had already been made clear how overwhelmingly large an amount of evidence against you was present."

Sue lifted her hands in exasperation. "That was years ago!"

"You were fully confident in your managing to avoid justice when you staged your little power play to take over as this school's principal 22 years ago," said the chief. He narrowed his eyes. "But what you failed to find out until May 2014, was that you'd been seen leaving the school premises that night by a random drifter. And to be fair, the fact that this man waited so long to bring it up continues to astound me just as much as it did my predecessor, but that's not the point." He leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk. "What the point _is_ , is that your deliberate set up to frame the previous principal before you, who has since been reestablished to his old post, did in fact have evidence against it."

Sue's eyes narrowed once more. "It has been 21 years since that happened," she snarled. "Is it too much to ask that the people of Lima just _forget_ about that after all this time?"

"And not only did _that_ little matter come to light," said the chief, his finger raised as if to emphasize a point. "But you were also exposed to have committed several acts of borderline abuse against several students at this school, shamelessly lied compulsively in public, committed multiple public hypocrisies, committed almost stalker levels of surveillance over a certain pair of gay former students from this school, formerly done posing for a playboy magazine before your time as a faculty member at this school, deliberately assaulted and hospitalized the director of the show choir Aural Intensity and bribed your way into serving as his replacement for the 2011 show choir Regionals Competition." The chief shook his head side to side with his eyes closed, and then opened them while his head was once again directly facing Sue. "Need I go on?"

Sue only glared, her jaws and fists clenched, and eyes narrowed. At this point, she was both too embarrassed _and_ too angry to respond, let alone try to deny anything. Not that denial would have made any sense at this point considering how the events in question had already been proven true years prior.

The chief pointed his finger at her. "With all that in mind, I have a good feeling that, contrary to your yet again claiming that we have no proof, we will indeed find proof of your involvement; and that's assuming of course, that you indeed _do_ turn out to have been directly involved with all this to the extent you're currently being suspected."

Sue pointed her own finger back at the chief. "I'll have you know that you'll find absolutely _nothing_ to tie me directly to this mess. Honest to God, you'll eat your words once you're done. Because this time, I am very much innocent."

The chief only smirked. "Forgive me if I don't believe you," he then stated in a very unapologetic tone of voice. His eyes narrowed, poker face returning, and he then said, "But considering your aforementioned history of compulsive lying, up to and including rarely ever even telling the truth about your own age, I'm gonna need far more than your say so to trust you in this case."

It took all of Sue's willpower not to explode in anger right there in her office and in front of the cops.

The chief pointed his finger at her. "You have till the end of this coming Sunday to provide a sufficient alibi to cover for any point this entire week up till today that you could have conceivably met up with and hired this boy my daughter claims to have tricked her into serving as a pawn for. And once you've provided that, expect the entire next week at most just for us to be absolutely certain as to what the end results say about this matter."

Sue clenched her left fist. "And what gives you the right to dig around in my personal life?"

"We're cops," said the chief. "And you are now a potential suspect of accessory to attempted assault and rape. We have to be thorough, and have all the facts. And I do mean _all_ the facts." He straightened back up to full height, lifted his hands off the desk, and folded his arms across his chest. All while still staring without flinching into the eyes of the older cheerleading coach sitting before him. "And besides, if you're truly as innocent as you claim to be, then surely you don't have any reason to be scared of a little digging on our part; now do you?"

Sue narrowed her eyes, and let out a low hiss. But then she sighed, closed her eyes, and nodded her head. "Fine," she said. "You win. Expect my full, complete, and _detailed_ alibi by the end of this coming Sunday at the latest."

"Looking forward to it already," the chief responded without missing a beat. He turned away to face his underlings. "I do believe we're done here for now. Anything else that needs to be done at this school before we return to the precinct?"

The cops continued to talk for a few moments before leaving the office. But during that particular amount of time, Sue was no longer paying attention to this particular detail. At that point, her mind was far too strongly focused on how she now planned to have a _very_ serious talk with one Charlotte Thornton within the very near future if given the chance that day.

. . . . .

"What were you thinking?" Sue damn near spat, her eyes narrowed into a glare as she faced the now very nervous looking head cheerleader that was now sitting in the chair opposite her desk. "What? Were? You? Thinking?!"

Charlotte gulped, her face otherwise frozen in fear as she looked at her clearly ticked off coach. "Wh. . . wh . . . what," she stuttered, "d. . . d. . . do you . . . m . . . m . . . mean?"

"What do I mean?"

Sue glared at Charlotte. "What do I mean?"

She pointed at Charlotte. "How about the fact that you went and took several other girls to a local _crack house_?!"

"It wasn't my idea!" Charlotte promptly yelled. "It was that weird sophomore boy, Grayson's, idea!"

"It was your fault for trusting him enough to say yes," Sue responded coldly.

Charlotte sighed. "Look I was tired ok? Tired of always failing. And don't make any smart aleck comments right now, you know full well what I'm referring to by failing in this case. I was tired of it, alright? And today's my birthday! My sweet 16! I just wanted a win for once!"

In that moment, Charlotte felt the full combined weight of both the slight depression she'd felt before meeting up with Scott _and_ the further despair of how she'd now only made things even worse for herself as a result of her choosing to trust him in the first place. "Why can't anything go my way anymore?" she thought to herself. "And on this day of all days? Is it too much to ask for a tiny ounce of success on my part these days?!"

"Well regardless," said Sue, clearly not in the mood for sympathy in her current state of anger. "Couldn't you have at least tried to agree to do something less extreme? Even by _your_ current standards? Or at the very least tried to wait until the weekend or similar day in which you'd have off school? Either of those options would have been better than to trick me into granting you permission to take part in this latest fiasco of yours without knowing the full truth!"

"I didn't think it would get that bad!" Charlotte screamed in a desperate effort to defend herself.

"Not that bad?" Sue damn near spat. "Not that bad?" She pointed her finger at Charlotte. "You almost got me arrested!"

She gestured towards the door. "At the very least, you could have better worded your explanation to your father and the rest of the cops before they came here! From the way you _did_ word your explanation to them, it sounded as if I _knew exactly_ what it was you, or more accurately this boy you claim to have been tricked by, had planned from the start, and let you go with full knowledge of all that! You know what that makes me look like in the grand scheme of things here? An accessory, that's what! An accessory to attempted assault and rape! And now I'm in the position of having to let your father dig around through _my_ personal life just to prove to him that I am indeed as innocent as I, this time truthfully, am! Are you _trying_ to make life just as difficult for me as you seem all too keen on making it for your precious quarterback and everyone else around here that isn't amongst the cheerios or other high popularity students?!"

For what seemed like an eternity, Sue glared at Charlotte, her eyes blazing, and face clenched with unadulterated rage. Charlotte, meanwhile, gulped and stared back at her angry coach with a half fearful and half saddened look on her own face. Eventually, right as Sue was feeling practically seconds away from explosively asking Charlotte to answer her, Charlotte said, "You know what? Let's go ahead and pretend right now that I am."

This response caused Sue to unwittingly let her guard down, her look of rage giving way to one of confusion. "Excuse me?"

Charlotte sighed, hung her head, and shook it side to side. "Let's pretend right now that I actually am trying to make your life, and everybody else's, a living Hell. Let's pretend that I actually _want_ my life and plans to get _this much_ out of control." She stood up, hands raised helplessly in the air. "Let's pretend that I am deliberately going out of my way to ruin everyone else's life instead of being remotely concerned about how God seems dead set on having me serve as one of the universe's latest chew toys and ensuring that just about _everything_ I try in my efforts at getting the things I want most goes horribly wrong! Let's pretend that I intentionally made every mistake I've ever made over the course of my little quest, including my accidentally making you look like an accessory, as a deliberate act of spite! Let's pretend that I'm not at all very likely to be in plenty of trouble now with my father once we return home later today! Let's pretend that I don't already feel bad enough right now about just how much worse this plan has gone compared to even some of my previous worst failures from before this one and how it's all come down to my bad luck not even having the kindness to give me a break on my own birthday of all days, the one day in the past that it has always, _always_ , allowed me a reprieve every year before this year, but especially over the previous two years! Will that make you feel better?! Huh?! Will it?! If so, go ahead! I won't stop you! Fat load of good it would do me to even try!"

For what seemed like an eternity, silence hung in the air. Charlotte remained standing and glaring at the still stunned and seated coach. Coach Sylvester, meanwhile, similarly remained seated and gaping at Charlotte, to stunned by the full extent of what Charlotte had just said to coherently think of a suitable comeback. Then, something seemed to snap, and Charlotte sniffled, and then started to cry.

The sight of Charlotte starting to cry was all Sue needed to snap out of her stunned stupor, and she rose from her seat and gave the crying head cheerleader a hug. "There, there," she said as Charlotte continued to cry. "It's alright."

Charlotte sniffled, and managed to briefly pause her crying. "I'm sorry," she said.

"It's alright," said Sue, giving Charlotte a motherly pat on the head. "It's alright. Everything will be ok."

For another few minutes, Charlotte continued crying and Sue continued her work on giving the poor girl the necessary support and comfort. When Charlotte finally finished letting the tears out of her system, she and the coach sat back down in their respective seats. Charlotte sniffled one last time, and wiped her eyes clear of the leftover moisture. "I'm sorry," she said.

Sue nodded. "It's ok," she said. And in that moment, she realized just what she needed to do. "And you know what? I know just what to do to make sure something like what just happened today never happens again."

Charlotte sniffled, and looked her coach straight in the eyes. "What's that?" she asked.

Sue mentally cheered. "Remember that offer I made this Monday?"

Charlotte thought to herself for a moment, and then made a silent 'oh' face as she remembered. "Yes," she responded.

"Good."

The coach leaned forward, her finger pointing firmly, but kindly, at Charlotte. "Because after what's happened today, and over the course of the past couple days, I say it's perhaps in both our best interests that we agree to that suggested partnership." She raised her hand as if forestalling a comment from Charlotte. "Yes, I know that you still have till the end of school tomorrow to make that decision on your own, but hear me out."

Sue took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Like we established during our meeting at the beginning of this week, you and I share talent at cooking up plots, passion for our goals, and intellect." She pointed at Charlotte. "You have youthful mental power and speed." She pointed at herself. "I have experience." She lifted her finger. "And all that combined together, could allow us both to achieve our respective goals."

She leaned her head towards Charlotte, her eyes narrowed to show that she was serious. "But as of today, you still with me?"

Charlotte nodded.

"As of today," Sue continued, "I now know one other detail I can add to the list that would allow for you to benefit from the partnership that I am offering to make with you." She lowered her finger so that it was pointing straight at Charlotte. "My instincts for how far to go and who to trust and bring in on such plans are stronger and better developed than yours."

The coach took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Therefore," she continued, "what I'm suggesting now is that together we think up plots, you serve as my spy in the glee club just like Quinn Fabray and lord knows how many other cheerios in that club to come before you and also do the heavy lifting and similar field duty within the club, and I take care of the heavier lifting from outside the club while also making sure that we keep things balanced, reasonable, and similarly from going too far." She spread her hands as if shrugging or trying to placate Charlotte. "Sure, I understand that this may yet be a lot to consider just like it was this Monday. But after what just happened today, I doubt you really have anything left to lose. Not to mention, any plans that get thought up by the two of us together are almost certainly guaranteed not to end with any other incidents like today's. What do you say?"

Charlotte thought to herself, carefully considering everything the coach had said as well as weighing in on all the potential positives and negatives. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded her head up and down. She opened her eyes and stared her coach straight in the face. "I say yes."

. . . . .

A half hour later, Mr. Schuester and all the gleeks, plus Hobbes, had never felt more relieved, yet at the same time exhausted and still slightly terrified, as they did that very moment as they all sat around gathered together in the choir room. At this point, they were waiting for both the cops to deem their business at the school to be sufficiently finished, and for all the gleek students' families to show up and finish doing whatever discussions they'd need to make with the cops. As long as the wait was currently shaping up to be though, they were glad that it gave them the opportunity now to have some much-needed recovery time from the incident earlier that very afternoon, as well as to do it while spending quality time together. They were even more than willing to accept the fact that both Zack and Charlotte were present in the choir room alongside them. The way they currently saw it, all the drama that had already unfolded that day, plus both Zack's unexpected assistance and the additional knowledge about Charlotte's level of involvement that Mr. Schuester and the boys had received from the girls not too long ago, had left them no longer in the mood for any animosity against them that day.

Charlotte turned her head to glance in the direction of where Daniel and Diana were seated. Her eyes briefly narrowed as she saw how, just like the previous time she'd glanced that way, Daniel was comforting a still quite shaken up Diana. But then she closed her eyes, and took three deep breaths, exhaling with each one. "Remain calm," she thought to herself. "For now," she mentally added.

Her earlier meeting with Coach Sylvester was still fresh in her mind, and she could remember full well how the coach had instructed her to behave for this early stage of their newfound partnership. While there was no doubt that they would indeed eventually make and attempt actual plots, the current plan was to wait until the police finally deemed their sights worth setting elsewhere and the atmosphere around McKinley High had similarly calmed down following the events of this current day. Therefore, as Coach Sylvester had very strongly recommended, Charlotte would have to spend at least the rest of this week, plus the entirety of next week, essentially laying low.

Charlotte gritted her teeth, clenching her fists in the process. She was far from pleased with the idea of letting Diana or Daniel have such a long period of reprieve from her usual behavior towards them. But, again as put by Coach Sylvester, even the slightest action of her usual behavior could easily lead to her trying to commit something more extreme. And after what had gone just this very day involving both the crack house _and_ the kidnapping effort by Silena and Ashley she'd unwittingly greenlit, any more actions worthy of drama, controversy, or even potential involvement from law enforcement were the absolute last thing she or her coach could afford to allow to happen. And so, mentally biting her tongue, she kept herself just barely under control.

"You're lucky I have to lay low for now," Charlotte mentally snarled at Diana. She clenched and unclenched her fists again, taking yet another deep breath and exhalation in the process. "Enjoy your reprieve while you can. As soon as next week is finished and the cops are no longer on mine and coach Sylvester's cases, I will come roaring back to finish what I started. And one way or another, I swear to God, Daniel will be mine."

"Man," Raj eventually managed to say. "What a day."

"You said it," said Bailey.

"Quoted for truth," Cody agreed.

"I'll admit," said Daniel. "Part of me still can't fully believe that all that craziness not too long ago actually happened." The other gleeks mumbled and nodded in agreement. Even Zack and Charlotte couldn't help but give slight nods of their own in agreement. With all the time that had passed, combined with a lack of things to keep them all distracted following the end of the adrenaline and the cops finishing their immediate business with them, the gleeks who'd been directly involved had now managed to realize the full enormity of what had happened. And they were now understandably shaken up and unnerved by the whole business.

At this point, even Mr. Schuester was having more than a little difficulty at finding just the right words to say. And this current inability couldn't be applied to strictly a single factor. One of the factors involved was just how much worse, at least in his opinion, this particular incident that had just now unfolded was in comparison to multiple other unpleasant incidents to unfold in he past involving his glee club. But there was also one other key factor behind his current feelings about the matter. And he was now starting to feel that it would be a very wise idea to voice it out within the near future. But first . . .

"Everyone," he said.

The students all looked at him, and so did Hobbes.

The teacher sighed. "I know this is probably going to sound like a really stupid question to ask at this point." He looked straight at his thirteen students. "But as shaken up and in disbelief you all feel right now. Do you think that you'll all be ok? In the days to come I mean?"

The students all thought to themselves, and directed multiple glances at each other in the eyes. Then, one by one, they all nodded their heads; some more slowly than the others.

"I'd certainly like to believe so," said Daniel.

"Me to," Diana agreed.

The rest of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, proceeded to slowly nod their heads and mumble in agreement.

Mr. Schuester nodded his own head, took a deep breath, and then sighed. "That's good to hear," he said. He looked back at his students once more. "Because now, there's one other thing about this mess that I'd like to say." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled, his students all waiting patiently. "Right now," he began. "What I'd really like to say . . . is that I'm sorry."

The teacher sighed again, hung his head, and shook it side to side. "Look, I get it, I'm sure there's no way I could have possibly known for sure that something like this could have happened. But even so, that still doesn't change the fact that, to a certain degree, I made it possible for this incident at the crack house to even happen in the first place." He lifted his head once more. "That time in which you were at the crack house, or even still at school hanging around before that point? We could have been spending that time safely in the choir room doing glee club activities, maybe even preparing for Sectionals. But instead, I put today's afternoon glee club session on hold, and essentially made it all the easier for there to be a convenient time for that Grayson boy, or whoever he really is, to find a perfect time to schedule for that business at the crack house." He sighed. "And all just because I couldn't handle a little bit of unexpected stress."

For a few seconds, the gleeks all let silence hang in the air after their teacher said all this, considering it all and trying to think of just what to say in response. Surprisingly enough, Zack was the first of the gleeks to properly respond. "Well hey," said the black boy. "You can't entirely be blamed for feeling overwhelmed by the stress you just mentioned." He nodded his head. "I mean, little bit of unexpected stress? That's an understatement, and you know it. And like you said yesterday, all that stuff I was doing over the last few days? I was crossing lines that Lord knows how many bad boy gleek predecessors of mine had never even considered. And like you said when you officially stated to us that today's afternoon session would be cancelled, that level of stress this early on compared to all the other years in this business? Really Mr. Schuester, everyone has their limits, and there's no shame to admit when you've reached them."

The other gleeks all thought to themselves, and then eventually nodded and similarly stated their agreement with what Zack had said. Even Mr. Schuester gave a slight nod in acknowledgement of the fair point Zack had raised.

"I understand that Zack," Mr. Schuester admitted. "Really I do. But even though I'd never experienced such a large level of stress this early on in a school year when it comes to this club, I still should have expected for such an experience to occur at some point or other. If I _had_ been smart enough to expect this possibility and properly prepared myself in some way, I probably would have been able to man up and just continue weathering my way through it instead of caving. Hell, even without having prepared myself for that possibility, I _still_ should have just manned up and continued trying my best to weather through it all to the end of this week. That would have been the responsible thing to do. And clearly, it would have potentially been much better for your safety this afternoon. But instead, like a weakling, I caved, and now look where we are."

The teacher hung his head, sighing once more. "And the kicker? All that stuff you just mentioned Zack? The especially stress inducing events and elements from the previous few days that had already piled up on me and gotten me feeling so overwhelmed before that kidnapping incident this morning finally broke the camel's back?" He pointed at Susan and Calvin. "Like both your parents, plus Figgins, made very clear yesterday, I could have stopped all that from happening. And I didn't."

This time, it didn't take anywhere near as much time for a response to be made. "That's not entirely your fault Mr. Schue," said Daniel.

"Yeah," said Calvin. "I mean, like you said yesterday, we were hardly innocent in that matter either. After all, it probably would have been wiser of us to flat out go ahead and tell you about the problems much earlier then to have made bandage assumptions like we ended up doing instead."

"I understand Calvin," Mr. Schuester admitted. "And I'm not saying that anyone of us is blameless in this equation." He sighed once more. "But as helpful as it would have been for you guys to tell me about the trouble before I ended up having to learn about it secondhand, let alone before it got as out of hand as it did, the simple fact is that I shouldn't have _had_ to rely on you guys telling me about the trouble in order to do something about it all. For as Mr. Figgins," he pointed at Calvin and Susan once more, "and your parents, not to mention Lord knows how many other New Directions-based incidents to end up unfolding over the last 26 years have made very brutally clear, I should have been paying more attention to what was going on." He gestured towards his students as if to indicate all of them. "Like you guys made somewhat reasonably clear, all the signs were right there under my own nose. And I was too distracted and blind to notice." He sighed. "And now, here we are. My job on the line. This club's existence on the line. And you guys now on the tail end of a situation I wouldn't have wished on even my worst students that I unwittingly helped make capable of happening."

For what seemed like an eternity, another period of silence hung in the air. After all, as saddening as it was to think about and admit, their teacher had brought up several valid points. Then, with a deep breath and exhalation, Daniel finally managed to speak. "Mr. Schue," he began. "I get what you're saying. I really do. And I understand how you feel right now and why you find it necessary to feel that way. But the blame for all this? It's not all on you." He raised his hand as if to forestall a comment from Mr. Schuester. "Yes, I understand that you're not blameless. But honestly, like you yourself admitted, none of us are in this equation. You don't have to pin all the blame solely on your own shoulders Mr. Schue. All of us?" He gestured to indicate himself and the other gleeks. "We've got plenty of reason for blame to. As better as it would have been if you _had_ been paying sufficient attention to what was going on without having to rely on us spelling it out for you, we still should have played the 'better safe than sorry' card and actually told you about what was going on instead of merely assumed that you'd noticed. And for that matter, let's not just up and forget about this Grayson fellow that the girls mentioned was responsible for tricking Charlotte into bringing the rest of the girls to the crack house. There's plenty of blame to spare for him as far as I'm concerned."

Daniel clenched his right fist and raised it in the air as if to emphasize a point he was about to make. "But know this Mr. Schue," he then said, his gray eyes agleam. "Whatever happens after today? We're all in this together. And odds are, everything will be alright." The other gleeks, plus Hobbes, were all quick to nod their heads and voice their agreement. Even Charlotte sincerely nodded her head up and down in support of what Daniel had said, genuinely believing that Mr. Schuester deserved at least this bit of kindness.

Mr. Schuester kept his gaze focused on his 13 students and the single dog. Then, after what seemed an impossibly long amount of time, the teacher let a small smile come on his face. "Well," said the teacher. "When you put it that way, I suppose things could be worse."

"You said it," said Calvin.

Carried away in the moment, the teacher, students, and dog placed their hands (and paw) together on top of each other. Then, after a silent count of three, they all lifted their hands and paw in the air with a loud "To glee club!"

"I see you're all in a good mood."

The eyes of the 15 choir room occupants widened in surprise, and they all turned their heads in time to see none other than Chief Thornton standing right outside the open doorway to the choir room. "Mr. Thornton," said Mr. Schuester. "I didn't hear you arrive. Is everything good?"

"As far as I am aware, yes. And in more ways than one."

The chief directed his gaze at Mr. Schuester. "As of now, my boys and I have just about finished everything that needs to be done at this school concerning this afternoon's unpleasant little incident. And that being the case, everyone can now go home." He gestured towards the 13 students and single dog. "And yes, that includes all of you. All your parents have arrived and are ready to take you home. Including yours." He pointed at Raj as he said that last sentence. "They felt it would make them feel more at ease if they were to be present in their own vehicle while you drove home today after everything that's happened this afternoon."

The Indian American boy nodded. "Understood officer," he said.

"Good to hear." The chief looked back at Mr. Schuester. "And as for you, no need for you to worry as far as your current standing is concerned." He lifted his finger. "Yes, there is the fact that you had to be explicitly informed of the situation by one of your students. And the fact that you can be considered tangentially responsible for this crack house incident being made possible is also not to be taken lightly. But nevertheless, the fact that you did not take long at all after being told about the trouble to react and get straight to work on getting things fixed and solved and were smart enough to get the police involved does earn you a fair deal of brownie points; not to mention is currently allowing you to remain on the right track to repairing your current shaky standing as far as your students' parents are concerned, I myself included." He nodded his head. "All that being said, I do believe everything should be alright now. And like I said, you're all free to go." He gestured to his right. "For those of you who aren't my daughter, your parents are waiting for you further down the hall." He looked towards Mr. Schuester. "And so is your wife, I might add."

Mr. Schuester nodded. "Say no more." He rose from his seat. "We'll leave." He turned his head to face his students. "He's right," said the teacher. "It is about time for us all to go home."

The students were all quick to agree, and they rose from their own seats. Zack, however, noticeably paused just long enough to, with his eyes closed, take a deep breath and exhale thrice in a row before gritting his teeth and slowly making his way after Mr. Schuester and all the other gleeks . . . apart from Charlotte. To be fair, Charlotte very nearly did follow the larger group out of a sheer sheep-like instinct to follow the group, but a cough from her father was enough to snap her back to reality and get her to pause long enough for Mr. Schuester and her fellow glee club members to leave her far behind in their travels to where their own families were waiting. Then she heard another cough from her father, and she grimaced, and then turned her head to face him. "Hi . . . dad," she managed to say.

The police chief spent a few seconds giving his daughter a poker-faced glare. Then his face softened somewhat, and he walked up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder in the process. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Charlotte thought to herself. Then she sighed, and hung her head. "Maybe," she responded truthfully. She looked back up at her father, sighing again in the process. "I'm in trouble. Aren't I?"

Her father sighed, a mixture of relief at his daughter's wellbeing and exhaustion from all the busy work he'd had to do over the last couple hours. "Honestly? After how I've spent the last couple hours? I don't really know what to say on that."

Charlotte sighed once more, and hung her head.

Her father was quick to provide reassurance. He placed his other hand on her other shoulder. "Look, right now, you don't have to worry about whether or not you're in trouble for what happened today, or about how you'll be punished if you in fact are in trouble for this. You, your mother, and I can take care of those details later. Right now, all that matters to me is that you're safe and healthy. And I'm sure your mother and sister will agree with me on that to at least some extent or other."

Charlotte sniffled, and then nodded her head. "I suppose so."

Her father nodded, and then seemingly beckoned for her to come closer. Charlotte instantly recognized the gesture as her father's signal of permission for a hug, as he'd used this gesture as such a signal multiple times for her and Tamara in similar past situations, and she gave her father a tight hug, which he returned.

"I'm sorry daddy," she said.

"I know Charlotte," said her father. "I understand."

The father and daughter finished their hug. The police chief nodded his head. "Come on Charlotte," he then said. "Let's go home."

 **And just like that, another chapter finally done! Only four more chapters left to go before this particular story of mine to occur in the GWAFU is finished (and I end up taking another hiatus from Glee fanfiction for the sake of my patiently waiting fans in the Teen Titans fanfiction community). That being said, I do hope VERY MUCH that you all enjoy this chapter (especially after the Hell long wait I ended up putting you through for it), that you leave a respectable amount of feedback for it (remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 review for this new chapter in order to allow you to see the next chapter upon its completion; but seriously, regardless of whether you have an account on this site or not, please, for the love of God, leave a review), and that you'll be looking forward to the next chapter (plus the others to follow that one). Again, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and found it worth the long wait! And furthermore, again, merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year!**

 **P.S: Feel free to tell me what you think about that little bit of information I just revealed about Charlotte and her family (among other things in this chapter of course).**

 **Coming up Next: The very next day, the New Directions prove themselves well on the way to recovery from yesterday's crack house incident through means of the four leads FINALLY getting caught up on finishing the glee club assignment for this week (Lord knows I've held that off long enough). And furthermore, Zack finally clears the air with some much needed (and this time accepted) apologies and explanations that allow him the chance on multiple fronts to finally earn forgiveness, redemption, and chances at developing into the comparatively better person we all remember him as from the main GWAF story. Sound good? I certainly hope so! And here's to hoping I don't take NEARLY as long in writing both this next chapter and the three to follow it!**


	24. Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

**Hey everyone! So sorry that I have again kept you all waiting. I was so certain that I would have this finished and posted before the end of January this year. I actually** ** _did_** **manage to finish this chapter last night, but was so tired and slightly past bedtime that I thought it more prudent to post today instead. Oh well, life just throws curveballs like that huh? Nevertheless, I very much hope that this chapter proves well worth the long wait. For in this chapter, not only do the four current leads of the New Directions** ** _finally_** **complete their parts for the week's assignment, but Zack finally sets himself truly off in the right direction to casting aside his less palatable days and making his way to well and truly anchoring himself into being the more lovable rogue we all know him as from the main story. Sound good? I certainly hope so! Onward with the fic!**

 **A/N: But first, I must remind you that I own neither Glee, nor any songs used in this chapter. And furthermore, at this time, before we start reading, let us have a moment of silence for Mark Salling, and hope that, if he was lucky enough to go to Heaven, he and Cory will have plenty of fun rocking out together. And with that being said, let us now proceed, in honor of our newest dear departed Gleek amongst the cast of original gleeks, to read this new chapter.**

 **Chapter 24:**

 **Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken**

Susan Caraway was in a bit of a daze as she stood alone in the McKinley High hallway that Friday morning. She was honestly quite surprised just how much of a daze she was in to be completely honest. In all fairness though, considering what she'd gone through the previous day, the fact that she was in such a daze right now was probably a good thing. And she could certainly tell that she was far from the only person to have been strongly affected by yesterday's incident. Just this morning her parents, particularly her father, had _still_ been uncertain if they were entirely willing to let her attend school today. But in the end, they had decided to give their daughter a chance and see how things unfolded at school, while also being at the ready to come pick her up in the event she felt it would be necessary to return home early. And she could already tell that she wouldn't be at all surprised if a similar idea turned out to be the case for all her friends amongst her fellow gleeks from the previous day's incident as well.

She sighed, hung her head, and shook it side to side. Standing around doing nothing was hardly going to help her get her act back together. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and then started aimlessly walking to her left. She didn't even realize how far she ended up traveling, let alone how long she ended up walking randomly through the school, until she caught a glimpse of a particular open door out of the corner of her eye and acted on a sudden urge to stop. She turned her head to give a closer look at the open doorway that had caught her eye. As it so happened, the room that the door in question led to was the backstage area of the auditorium.

Without fully understanding why, the dark-haired girl found herself allowing a small smile to come onto her face. "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to spend a little time reflecting in there," she thought to herself. She entered the area, and her smile widened as she found herself imagining what it would be like when she and the rest of the gleeks inevitably got the chance to perform in competitions. "Man," she thought to herself. "It's still only the first full week of school this year, not to mention my first full week as a New Directioneer, and already here I am looking forward to performing in competitions . . . best just hope that Calvin can handle being so blatantly in the spotlight, and that he can keep himself from roaring at the end of our series of performances during those times."

She came to a stop, took another deep breath, and exhaled yet again. "Relax," she thought to herself. "You can worry about how well Calvin can handle himself in competition situations later. Right now, all you need to worry about is making sure that you relax and guarantee that you feel 100% A-Okay today following yesterday's incident." She nodded her head. "Yeah," she thought to herself. "I can do that."

It was at that moment that she happened to notice what looked like a pair of ballet slippers lying on the floor in front of her feet. After a few seconds of staring at them in confusion, her smile returned, and her blue eyes very noticeably started to gleam with happiness. For it was at this moment, staring at those admittedly quite beautiful looking ballet slippers, that she remembered how she'd taken ballet lessons over the course of her entire elementary school life. She sighed in contentment, her eyes closing as she started to remember how much fun she'd had during the times in which she danced as a young elementary school-age ballerina, and how much her already strong joy she felt while ballet dancing had only increased ten-fold during the times in which Calvin had been around to watch. She chuckled as she remembered just how much Calvin had cared about her as a friend to be willing to sit through watching ballet dancing just for her when they both knew full well that ballet was far from high on Calvin's list of favorite things.

Susan's smile widened once more, still without showing any teeth, and with her eyes almost shedding tears of joy as she remembered how Calvin had looked far happier then he'd ever looked before at any of her previous performances he'd ever watched when he'd been in the audience to watch her perform in her 5th grade year's production of The Nutcracker. And as far as she knew, considering how that performance had been her final serious performance as a ballerina before ending her lessons altogether (though not without considerable reluctance and difficulty in making that choice) so as to have more time to focus on her upcoming high workload in middle school, she herself had never done a better job as a ballerina then she had in that performance of The Nutcracker, and as Clara no less!

She looked down at the shoes once more, staring wistfully at them. Then she thought to herself, realizing how the slippers seemed to be just the right size for her own feet, and a wide smile of nostalgia came on her face. "Oh, what the Hell," she thought to herself. "It won't hurt anyone. Besides, I'm all by myself in here, and there's still 20 minutes left before class starts. I've definitely got time."

In the span of 2 minutes, Susan had placed her backpack on the floor near a rack of hanging costumes, slipped off her regular shoes, and placed on the ballet slippers. And right as the 3rd minute left to go began, she took a small trio of deep breaths to calm herself down and get herself sufficiently focused. And then, when she felt the time was sufficient, she proceeded to start dancing her heart out exactly how she remembered doing from so many years ago back in elementary school. And quite honestly, she would have likely spent the entirety of the remaining time before class began dancing away . . . if not for her watch going off in an alarm she'd set for the 10-minute mark. For about another minute following her ceasing her dance as a result of her watch's alarm, she stood silently where she was, mentally debating whether or not to head off immediately in the direction of her first class of the day, or to spend at least another 5 minutes or so dancing. Then, with a great deal of reluctance, she sighed, removed the ballet slippers from her feet, reapplied the shoes she'd been wearing before, and reclaimed her backpack before leaving the auditorium backstage area to head off to class.

As she walked through the hallways after that, she found herself feeling the exact same bittersweet feeling she'd felt for at least an entire month following her ending her ballet lessons after her last Nutcracker performance. Sure she'd indeed enjoyed that small amount of time she'd now spent genuinely and seriously enjoying herself while ballet dancing, but it had now also reminded her of why she'd enjoyed ballet dancing so much before ending her ballet career as well as of why she still missed doing ballet dancing even now. She sighed, and hung her head as she continued to walk. "Oh well," she thought to herself. "At least I got to do at least that one last little ballet dance today. And who knows, I may yet have the time to do some more ballet dancing for fun at some point or other in the future." Then she felt a small smirk come on her face. "And besides," she thought to herself. "It's not like I miss those stuck-up airheads that I had to deal with amongst my ballet classmates."

And indeed, she most certainly did _not_ miss those classmates in question from her days as a ballet dancer. Even now she still felt her blood boil at the memory of the more snobby, arrogant, and rude girls she'd had the misfortune of having to consider her peers and share the same skill level with in ballet dancing; but especially at the memory of how smug and arrogant they'd acted towards her for not being the latest ballerina in a 'family line' as they'd put it; or, worse yet, the absolutely dehumanizing things they'd said about Calvin, several of which they'd had the gall to say when he was in earshot, sometimes even directly to his face, and sometimes both to his face _and_ with Susan herself in the area and capable of hearing and seeing it happen to! She snarled at the memory, shaking her head side to side. After calming herself down, she smiled again as she remembered how utterly pissed off they'd been when she'd successfully gotten the part of Clara in her 5th grade year's production of the Nutcracker, and also how similarly utterly humiliated they'd been when they'd both seen how truly worthy of the role she'd been during the actual performances and learned about how she'd been one of the most widely talked about and praised elements of those specific performances. And by God had Susan known it to, as she'd even gotten them to add in a direct (to his face) apology to Calvin immediately after they'd apologized directly to her. She sighed in contentment. "I certainly shut them up and made them feel like steaming piles of crap," she thought to herself. She chuckled. "And I couldn't be happier about it."

She paused, her eyes widened as she seemed to reach an epiphany. "I know just the song to sing for glee club today," she thought to herself. Then her eyes started seemingly shining with joy, and her earlier joyous smile returned. "Might as well give myself a little practice," she thought to herself. And in that instant, with the appropriate music playing in her mind, she started singing the song that had popped up in her mind. And the performance in question, complete with a good bit of ballet dancing, went something like this:

 _I'm feeling further, feeling further from you every day  
You're in the stars, in the stars, yeah, you're worlds away  
I'm moving on, moving on, then I hear you say  
Hold on, hold on  
(Scene Break: Auditorium Stage)  
We're losing light, losing light, yeah, we're fading fast  
We had a fire, need a spark, or we'll never last  
Just look at me, look at me, I've been burning for you  
So long, so long  
I should walk away  
(Scene Break: Ballet Studio, with Calvin assisting as needed)  
(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I look at you and (Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I get the feeling (Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I think that I should hold on, hold on  
(Scene Break: McKinley High hallway)  
(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I look at you and (Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I get the feeling (Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I think that I should hold on, hold on  
(Scene Break: Ballet Studio)  
I'm losing love, losing you, losing everything  
Losing faith in the world where I wanna be  
So I don't care if the one thing that's killing me  
Is so wrong, so wrong  
I should walk away  
(Scene Break: Hallway)  
(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I look at you and_

 _(Scene Break: Auditorium)_

 _(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I get the feeling_

 _(Scene Break: Ballet Studio)_

 _(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I think that I should hold on, hold on  
(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I look at you and_

 _(Scene Break: Auditorium)_

 _(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I get the feeling_

 _(Scene Break: Hallway)_

 _(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I think that I should hold on, hold on  
(Scene Break: Auditorium)  
Oh oh, oh oh  
And I can't stop this feeling  
And I can't stop this feeling  
(Scene Break: Hallway)  
(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I look at you and_

 _(Scene Break: Auditorium)_

 _(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I get the feeling_

 _(Scene Break: Ballet Studio)_

 _(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I think that I should hold on, hold on  
(Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I look at you and (Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I get the feeling (Oh-oh oh-oh)  
I think that I should hold on, hold on_

 _(Scene Break: Choir room)_

 _(Spoken: Hold on)_

For what seemed like an eternity, Susan remained positioned in a ballerina-style curtsey, facing the clearly stunned gleeks serving as her audience. Then, right as Susan felt certain she was on the verge of panicking from a lack of reaction, the silence in the air was utterly destroyed by the almost cacophonic cheering that erupted from the throats of her 10 genuine friends amongst the gleeks, plus the equally joyous barking from Hobbes, and the similarly proud and happy clapping and occasional cheering from Mr. Schuester. Amber in particular seemed especially joyous and loud in her applause considering how she'd seemed slightly on the verge of sleep when she'd first entered the choir room alongside her fellow sophomore gleeks. Even Charlotte couldn't help but clap and nod her head in approval. "She may not be a cheerio," the head cheerleader thought to herself. "But damn, with dancing like that, I wish to God that she were."

"Bravo Susan," said Mr. Schuester. "Bravo."

Susan chuckled, at that point already straightened back up to full height, and she nodded her head. "Thank you, Mr. Schue," she then said.

"Yeah, that's right," said Calvin, who was clearly the last one to finish clapping. "Let's hear it for Susan everyone!"

"Bark! Bark! Bark!" Hobbes barked in agreement.

Susan chuckled, as did almost every single one of the other gleeks. Even Zack let out a small happy chuckle. Charlotte, naturally, was the only one of the gleeks who didn't chuckle, resorting instead to rolling her eyes. Susan curtseyed one last time, and then returned to her seat without even getting prompted.

"Alright then," said Mr. Schuester. "Now that Susan's done her part for the week's assignment, who'd like to go next?"

"Me."

Mr. Schuester and the gleeks all turned their heads in time to see none other than Calvin rise from his seat and walk over to where Susan had been standing at the beginning and end of her performance. He reached the microphone and turned around to directly face his fellow gleeks. All of them watched him intently, Susan and Hobbes especially so.

"This oughta be fun," Susan thought to herself.

Hobbes started happily panting almost as if he'd read Susan's mind and was in agreement with her.

"Well everyone," said Calvin, his hands clasped together. "For this week's assignment, what I have to offer is something that I believe would accurately portray the kind of mood that I'm sure Sam Evans had to have been feeling over the course of all his hard work to keep his family supported during their time as homeless people and when he had to continue working after they'd gotten a new home but still had to wait for his parents to get proper new jobs of their own. And not only that, but it has also proven more than once an appropriate song that I've had to use as a motivation for myself during my own low points in life. And trust me, just listen to this song, and you'll understand. Sound worth a listen?" The gleeks; except, naturally, Charlotte; all indicated that their answer was 'yes'. "Awesome," said Calvin.

The autistic boy turned his head to face the band members. "Ready boys?"

The three musicians nodded, smiles on their faces.

"Good."

He turned around to face Mr. Schuester and the audience, half excited and half nervous smile on his face. He then lifted his left hand, index finger raised. The band members tensed up in anticipation for what was clearly a signal that Calvin had arranged for them to expect. Both Calvin and the band members were able to simultaneously begin their parts in the performance that followed flawlessly without any screw ups. Said performance, complete with a fair bit of dancing on Calvin's part, went something like this:

 _Down (Down), Down (Down), Down (Down), Down (Down)  
Here I am with all these questions hanging from my ceiling low  
One by one they all keep telling me I told you so  
Everywhere I turn I see red lights flashing over my head  
Oh no, oh no, oh no  
In a whirl-wind spinning yeah somehow it knocked me off my feet  
But I know better than to let it get the best of me,  
I could give up, I could stay stuck, I could move on  
So I put one foot front of the other,  
No no no nothing's gonna break my stride,  
I keep climbing, gonna keep fighting until I make it to the other side of down_

 _Down, Dow . . . whoa, oh, oh, oun_

 _Down (down), Down, ow, oun  
In the sky, I'm standing under all I see is endless rain  
I think I spot a silver lining hiding in the grey  
I might get tossed around, but I'm always bouncing back  
oh. oh. oh  
I could give up, I could stay stuck, I could move on,  
So I put one foot front of the other,  
No no no nothing's gonna break my stride,  
I keep climbing, gonna keep fighting until I make it to the other side of down_

 _Down, dow . . . whoa, oh, oh, oun_

 _Down, down, dow . . . whoa, oh, oh, oun  
On the other side of down  
It keeps calling me  
Where I wanna be  
On the other side of down  
it keeps calling me  
where I wanna be  
where I wanna be  
Oh, I put one foot front of the other,  
No no no nothing's gonna break my stride,  
I keep climbing, gonna keep fighting until I make it to the other side of down_

 _Down, dow . . . whoa, oh, oh, oun_

 _Down, down, dow . . . whoa, oh, oh, oun_

 _Ohh, down, down (oh, whoa)_

 _Ohh, down, down_

 _The other side of down, down,_

 _The other side of dow, ow, ow, oun_

 _Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah . . ._

 _(Instrumental finish)_

Literally the instant the last few instrumental notes of the song had ended, Calvin lifted his head away from the microphone and unleashed his usual lion-like roar, Hobbes unleashing his standard wolf-like howl at the same time.

Much like had been the case for Susan, a seeming eternity passed the finish of Calvin's performance, and the subsequent dual beastly finale call, before the silence was emphatically broken by the sound of applause from the audience.

"Wonderful job Calvin," said Mr. Schuester as he clapped. "Wonderful job."

"Damn right," said Susan. She lifted her fists in the air in a gesture of joy. "Three cheers for Calvin everybody! Hip, hip!"

"Hooray!" all the other gleeks apart from Charlotte yelled.

"Aroo!" Hobbes simultaneously howled.

"Hip, hip!"

"Hooray!"

"Aroo!"

"Hip, hip!"

"Hooray!"

"Aroo!"

Calvin chuckled. "I'm happy you all were entertained." He nodded his head. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said all the gleeks apart from Charlotte.

"What they said," said Mr. Schuester. He then pointed in the direction of a seemingly moderately annoyed Brad still seated at the piano, a half amused and half embarrassed look on his face. "But did you _really_ have to donkey kick the piano?"

At that point, Calvin sheepishly chuckled, an awkward half grimace on his face, and he turned his head to face the still somewhat miffed Brad, now clearly remembering how he had in fact 'donkey kicked' the piano every time he'd sung the first 'down' in the chorus of the song. "Yeah," he said. "My bad." He turned his head to face Mr. Schuester once more. "I don't know, I just like to have fun while singing and dancing, you know?" Brad rolled his eyes, and shook his head side to side with an exhausted look on his face.

"Don't worry Calvin," said Susan. The blonde boy looked at his brunette best friend, who was still smiling and had now started giving him a thumbs-up. "You did great; _and_ you had fun doing so to. That's all that matters right?"

Hobbes barked twice to indicate his agreement with Susan.

Calvin chuckled. "If you say so." He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then returned to his seat. "Next up," he then said.

"Will do," said Daniel.

Mr. Schuester didn't need to be told twice. He gestured with both hands to indicate Daniel as the boy made his way over to the microphone. "Give it up for Daniel everyone!" The gleeks promptly complied, Charlotte included this time. But Daniel didn't care about that last detail. He had people worthier of his concern to impress. And that was all the other gleeks in the room that weren't Charlotte, but especially Diana.

A smile on his face as he kept his gaze focused particularly heavily on Diana, he lifted the microphone. "Well guys, I hope you're ready for yet more quality entertainment following the real show stoppers that Diana and Calvin had to offer today, because I'm about to follow up on them with an equally impressive number of my own; and one that I'm sure would almost _definitely_ have been one that Finn Hudson would have been more than happy to sing during his time as a student in this club, or any time really." His smile widened. "Let's get to it." He turned his head to face Brad and the band. "Shall we?" The pianist and band members nodded their heads. "Perfect." He lifted his fist. "Let's do this."

Brad promptly started playing the appropriate tune on the piano, and when the right time came for Daniel to start singing and the rest of the band to likewise add in their own input, the resulting performance went something like this:

 _She's watching the taxi driver, he pulls away  
She's been locked up inside her apartment a hundred days  
She says, "Yeah, he's still coming, just a little bit late.  
He got stuck at the laundromat washing his cape."  
She's just watching the clouds roll by and they spell her name  
Like Lois Lane  
And she smiles, oh the way she smiles  
She's talking to angels,  
Counting the stars  
Making a wish on a passing car  
She's dancing with strangers,  
Falling apart  
Waiting for Superman to pick her up  
In his arms, yeah, in his arms, yeah  
Waiting for Superman  
She's out on the corner trying to catch a glimpse  
Nothing's making sense  
She's been chasing an answer, a sign lost in the abyss,  
This Metropolis  
She says, "Yeah, he's still coming, just a little bit late.  
He got stuck at the Five and Dime saving the day."  
She says, "If life was a movie, then it wouldn't end like this,  
Left without a kiss."  
Still, she smiles, oh, the way she smiles, yeah  
She's talking to angels,  
Counting the stars  
Making a wish on a passing car  
She's dancing with strangers,  
She's falling apart  
Waiting for Superman to pick her up  
In his arms, yeah, in his arms, yeah  
She's waiting for Superman...  
...to lift her up and take her anywhere  
Show her love and flying through the air  
Save her now before it's too late tonight  
Oh, at the speed of light  
And she smiles  
She's talking to angels,  
Counting the stars  
Making a wish on a passing car  
She's dancing with strangers,  
She's falling apart  
Waiting for Superman to pick her up  
In his arms, yeah, oh, in his arms, yeah  
She's waiting for Superman...  
...to lift her up and take her anywhere  
Show her love, oh, and flying through the air  
Save her now before it's too late tonight  
She's waiting for Superman_

Daniel waited the necessary seconds required for the band to finish the remaining instrumental finishing notes for the song. Once those were out of the way, he looked right back at the audience just in time for said audience to joyously applaud, complete with Diana, Susan, Calvin, and Zack giving him standing ovations. Charlotte, herself joyously clapping as well, also seemed rather miffed, almost as if she herself had been planning on giving a standing ovation but was now very thoroughly deciding to abstain simply because Diana had done so before her. Daniel smirked at the sight of this. "It's always good to see yet another wrench thrown Charlotte's way," Daniel thought to himself. He then directed his full attention back to the gleeks whose approval he actually cared about, smiled, and then bowed, prompting even further applause. He smiled again, straightened up from his bow, and turned to face Mr. Schuester.

The teacher nodded, a smile on his face even as he winded down his own clapping. "Excellent performance Daniel," he said. "Finn would be proud."

Daniel's smile widened further upon hearing that last bit of praise. "Thank you, Mr. Schue." He turned his head to face the rest of the gleeks, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Well then," he then said. "I suppose we all know what's left to be done now." He walked on over to his empty seat and sat back down. As he did so, he placed his right hand on Diana's left shoulder. "Your turn Diana."

At that moment, it seemed as if Diana had suddenly realized something, or found herself face to face with something truly horrible. She gulped, her eyes now seemingly widened and fearful. Daniel alone noticed this, and he gave her another reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry Diana," he whispered to her. "You can do this. I know you can."

Diana gulped again, took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Relax," she whispered to herself. She then stood up, resolutely walked over to the microphone, and positioned herself as needed. She lifted the microphone to her mouth, and then noticeably paused as she took five deep breaths and exhalations in a row. At this point, the rest of the audience could now clearly tell that something seemed to be bothering Diana, and they all began to show clear signs of concern. Even Charlotte went so far as to raise an eyebrow.

Mr. Schuester, naturally, also found himself very much aware and concerned over the whole matter. "Is everything alright Diana?"

"Oh, yes," Diana managed to say, nervously chuckling afterward. "I'm good."

Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrow. "You sure?" he asked.

"Yes," Diana managed to say. "I'm sure. I'm perfectly fine. But thank you anyway."

"Well," said Mr. Schuester. "If you say so." He nodded his head. "Don't feel like you have to hurry," he then stated in a reassuring tone. "Take your time."

"Sure, go ahead and do that," Charlotte thought to herself spitefully. "Just so long as you, you know, actually _sing_ before the session ends."

Diana, blissfully unaware of the spiteful snarkiness Charlotte was thinking up, took one last deep breath, and then exhaled one final time. Then she turned her head to face Brad and the band members, giving them a meaningful wink in the process. The musicians almost instantaneously began playing the appropriate tune. And as that happened, Diana turned her head and proceeded to slightly hang it, her eyes closed, a somewhat somber and resigned look on her face, and both her hands seemingly clenched around the microphone. This appearance, combined with the instantly recognizable tune for the song she'd obviously chosen, was enough for Mr. Schuester and the rest of the gleeks to instantly have their full attention devoted to Diana in clear concern. Even Charlotte looked somewhat curious as to what exactly was going on. And, as probably was to be expected by now, even Hobbes seemed to have a very human-like look of concern on his own furry face. And as Mr. Schuester, Hobbes, and her fellow gleeks all looked on in a mixture of intrigue and concern, Diana proceeded to devote her full heart and passion into the now very unexpectedly saddening, yet perfectly powerful regardless of mood and tone, song she'd chosen to sing for the week's assignment. And the resulting performance went like this:

 _I can hold my breath  
I can bite my tongue  
I can stay awake for days  
If that's what you want  
Be your number one  
I can fake a smile  
I can force a laugh  
I can dance and play the part  
If that's what you ask  
Give you all I am  
I can do it  
I can do it  
I can do it  
But I'm only human  
And I bleed when I fall down  
I'm only human  
And I crash and I break down  
Your words in my head, knives in my heart  
You build me up and then I fall apart  
'Cause I'm only human  
I can turn it on  
Be a good machine  
I can hold the weight of worlds  
If that's what you need  
Be your everything  
I can do it  
I can do it  
I'll get through it  
But I'm only human  
And I bleed when I fall down  
I'm only human  
And I crash and I break down  
Your words in my head, knives in my heart  
You build me up and then I fall apart  
'Cause I'm only human  
I'm only human  
I'm only human  
Just a little human  
(Pause)_

 _I can take so much  
'Til I've had enough  
(Pause)_

 _'Cause I'm only human (other gleeks: Human!) (Hobbes: Aroo!)  
And I bleed when I fall down (other gleeks: bleed when I fall down)  
I'm only human (other gleeks: Human!) (Hobbes: Aroo!)  
And I crash and I break down (other gleeks: crash and I break down)  
Your words in my head, knives in my heart (other gleeks: words in my head, knives in my heart)  
You build me up and then I fall apart (other gleeks: up and then I fall apart)  
'Cause I'm only human (other gleeks: Human!) (Hobbes: Aroo!)_

After what seemed like an eternity following the song's conclusion, Diana finally opened her eyes and stared patiently at the audience. Then, it seemed to take yet another eternity before the audience finally started clapping and applauding. This time, oddly enough, even Charlotte found herself unexpectedly clapping. This fact was not unnoticed by the head cheerio in question. "Why am I clapping for her?" she thought to herself. "Dear God, why am I clapping for her?"

At the sight and sound of the very obvious and audible sigh of relief that Diana gave off in response to the applause, Mr. Schuester decided that enough was enough. And considering Diana's tone and raw emotion throughout the performance, her eyes being closed the whole time, her banging her right fist against her head and chest during specific lyrics of the song, multiple almost angry looking stomps of her foot, and how she'd even sung one the last line before the first of the song's pauses to occur before its finale chorus while positioned and sounding like she was emitting a harsh skyward scream towards the ceiling, he thought it was quite frankly a miracle he hadn't decided to force Diana to stop her performance out of sheer concern. "Diana," he said. "Whatever's going on, you can tell me." The other gleeks similarly responded that she could tell them what was going on.

For what seemed like forever, Diana only stared at her clearly concerned audience. To the majority of the audience members, Diana seemed to have a completely blank look on her face. Daniel, Susan, and Zack, however, could see the small details that only someone who knew her as well as them could recognize. And the sight of those details was enough for them to know instantly that she was currently both seconds away from crying and fighting a metaphorical tooth and nail battle to keep herself together.

Seconds later, at the sight of Diana clenching her fists, closing her eyes, slightly lifting her head, and similarly tensing up, Daniel and Susan looked each other in the eyes, a silent message passing between them. It was clear someone needed to step up and get to work on comforting her, ASAP. For in a situation like this, the only to get Diana to admit that there was indeed something wrong and willingly let down her stoic and strong façade was for someone to come to her and start advance work on cheering her up and comforting her.

Daniel got up and walked towards Diana. The sight of this, combined with the sight of Susan nodding her head with a sage look of sympathy on her face, was enough to promptly cue Calvin and Hobbes into realizing the very information that Susan, Zack, and Daniel had already come to realize. And in that instant, they both looked at Diana, and Calvin promptly mentally berated himself. "Dear God, she looks so obviously struggling to keep up a brave face," the autistic boy thought to himself. "And I'm only _now_ realizing that?"

Diana eventually noticed that Daniel had now come to a stop right in front of her. She looked up in his eyes, her own eyes now open and clearly showing how ridiculously close she was to crying her eyes out. For what seemed like an eternity, the two friends stared at each other, both of them uncertain as to what to say. Daniel was still trying to decide just what to say as a result of how he still didn't fully know the exact details and wanted to be certain that he sounded genuine and that he wasn't trying to make light of the matter or similarly cheapen his friend's current clear state of distress. Diana, meanwhile, was completely at a loss on just what to do or say.

On the one hand, she didn't want to look weak in front of Daniel, Mr. Schuester, or her friends, and certainly not in front of Charlotte either. But on the other hand, Mr. Schuester and her friends, and especially Daniel and Susan, were people that she could trust and would be genuinely safe to open up to and tell about what was currently bothering her. But, on yet another hand, she was also uncertain as to whether or not she truly could bear to tell them just what was wrong with her, about how much more strongly she'd truly been affected by the previous day's crack house incident then she'd been letting on, about how often she'd looked over her shoulder and similarly kept watching for any people she'd think might have a bad idea for her on their minds, or about the truly horrible nightmare she'd had the previous night that had kept on revisiting her in a slightly different form every time she'd tried to go back to sleep after being awakened from a previous version of it. She eventually hung her head, her eyes closed, and fists clenched, mentally cursing herself for her current indecision and simultaneous state of nearly being in tears.

She felt Daniel's hand come on her shoulder, and she briefly winced. Then she looked up at Daniel once more. In that moment, the sight of his gray eyes, and the look in them directed at her, was all she needed to see. At the sight of her eyes morphing to indicate that she was now even closer to finally breaking down and crying, Daniel nodded his head. "Go ahead," he said. "You know you need to." He nodded his head once again, this time with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and met Diana's gaze once more. "Whatever you decide," he then said. "I'm here."

In that instant, the last few strands Diana had left of her façade snapped. With a small whimper, she lunged forward, snapped her arms around Daniel's waist in a hug, placed her head against his chest, and let out a piercing _wail_ of sadness as she _finally_ allowed herself to cry. Daniel was stunned at first, but then his wits returned, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around Diana in a tight embrace of his own. "It's ok," he whispered encouragingly to his sobbing friend. "It's ok."

In that instant, Susan was seconds away from standing up to join Daniel and Diana when, much to her shock, _Calvin_ stood up and started heading over to join them first, with Hobbes standing up and following close behind. All of five seconds after that, however, Susan was able to shake off her surprise, rise from her seat, and walk resolutely over to join her four friends.

Both Diana and Daniel briefly flinched when they suddenly two other pairs of arms wrap around them combined with a furry presence rubbing up against their legs repeatedly without leaving. Then they relaxed, Diana still crying, as they realized that Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes had joined in, with Calvin and Susan hugging them and Hobbes rubbing his head against their legs.

Then, one by one, all the other gleeks apart from Zack and Charlotte got up from their seats, walked up to where the four leads were gathered, and joined in to provide their own support for the crying Diana. Mr. Schuester stayed where he was, nodding his head in sympathy with his eyes closed, silently praying to himself that everything would get getter now that Diana had finally stopped trying to pretend there was nothing wrong and waiting for his students to finish their work at supporting her and back away before he tried to give any support of his own. Charlotte stayed where she was, her fists clenched and eyes closed through a mixture of guilt at her responsibility for the incident that had caused Diana to be in her current state, indecision on whether she should stay where she was or join up with the other gleeks giving Diana their support, and her still strongly in existence anger and enmity towards Diana regarding Daniel. Zack, on the other hand, stayed where he was out of a mixture of guilt and being busy making a silent vow. The vow in question? "I am going to make things right," he thought to himself. He directed a side glance towards Mr. Schuester out of the corner of his eyes. "And I know just what to do to get that ball rolling this afternoon."

. . . . .

Hours later, Zack was taking deep breaths and mentally preparing himself for what he had in mind as he sat in the choir room for the after-school session of glee club. He was so focused on his current plans, that he was just barely paying attention to what Mr. Schuester was saying. Embarrassingly enough, it took an almost exasperated sounding 'ahem' from the teacher for Zack to snap out of his thoughts. He turned his head to look at Mr. Schuester, a clear look of lingering confusion and surprise still on his face.

The teacher sighed. "I said, there is something that you were planning to do in this meeting before we started discussing what's to come this year."

"Oh, right." Zack chuckled awkwardly, a sheepish look on his face. He then got up from his chair and walked over towards where the microphone was positioned. "Sorry," he said as he did so.

After reaching his intended position, he took another couple deep breaths, exhaling with each one. He then looked directly at the assembled audience of teacher and fellow gleeks. "Alright everyone," he began. "I know that I've already done my part for the assignment; and that all of have in fact done our part of the assignment; but right now, there is a little something I'd like to go ahead and do." He seemed to briefly think to himself. "And if at all possible, I'd like for the rest of the boys amongst this club's students to join me." He then winced, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth in the process. He opened his eyes, hints of a grimace still present in them. "If, that is, any of you are willing?"

The other six boys raised their eyebrows in unison. Hobbes, unnervingly enough, seemed to do the same. Then they all looked each other in the eyes, a silent message seeming to pass between them. Then they all gradually nodded their heads, stood up, and walked over to where Zack was positioned.

As the rest of the audience watched, the 7 boys seemed to have a whispered discussion. Then, one by one, all the other boys nodded their heads in the affirmative. Calvin, however, noticeably was the very last to do so, and still seemed quite reluctant about the whole business. They split up, each of them dragging a chair into position near the area between the microphone and the area where Brad and the band were positioned. After all seven of them had taken a seat, Zack turned his head to face Brad and the band, winking in the process. The musicians prepared themselves and their instruments, and then started playing the tune that Zack and Mr. Schuester had informed them would be necessary for the current activity. The performance that resulted, went something like this:

 _(Zack)_

 _Guess it's true, I'm not good at a one-night stand  
But I still need love 'cause I'm just a man  
These nights never seem to go to plan  
I don't want you to leave, will you hold my hand?  
Oh, won't you stay with me? (other boys: stay with me)  
'Cause you're all I need (other boys: all I need)  
This ain't love, it's clear to see  
But, darling, stay with me (other boys: stay with me)  
Why am I so emotional?  
No, it's not a good look, gain some self-control  
And deep down I know this never works  
But you can lay with me so it doesn't hurt  
Oh, won't you stay with me? (other boys: stay with me)  
'Cause you're all I need (other boys: all I need)  
This ain't love, it's clear to see  
But, darling, stay with me (stay with me)_

 _(Instrumental break)_

 _Oh, won't you. stay with me?_

 _'Cause you're all I need_

 _This ain't love, it's clear to see_

 _But, darling, stay with me_

 _Oh, won't you stay with me? (other boys: stay with me)  
'Cause you're all I need (other boys: all I need)  
This ain't love, it's clear to see  
But, darling, stay with me_

Two seconds after the song was over, Zack found himself under scrutiny from the other six boys in the club.

"That was a nice performance," said Daniel. "I'll admit that." The other boys nodded and mumbled their agreement. "However," Daniel then said while lifting his finger. "Now that it's over, I must ask," he spread his hands out to his sides, "why did we just do all that?"

"I second that question," said Calvin. "And if that performance was supposed to be your way of apologizing for all the drama you caused this week and asking us to give you a second chance, well . . ."

He sighed and shook his head side to side. "Considering one of the key factors involving you're getting us all into this mess in the first place, you _really_ should have picked a different song."

Zack mentally chuckled for a brief second. "Way to bring the ice water Calvin," he thought to himself jokingly. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled. It was time to get serious.

"You're right Calvin," he said. He nodded his head. "You are absolutely right." He looked at the entirety of the other people gathered around him in the choir room. "What Calvin just said? He ain't wrong." He hung his head. "All that stuff you brought up in the choir room yesterday after the crack house craziness? About who was at fault for this whole mess? You left out one key player." He lifted his head, made sure to look each person in the room in the eye at least once. "Me."

He sighed. "Yes, I know that plenty of blame to go around has already been established yesterday for other people and factors. But the plain and simple fact is that all those factors and people were only capable of having any blame assigned to them because of my own actions." He looked at Mr. Schuester. "All that stuff that got you so stressed out past breaking point yesterday? The stuff that got you at risk of losing your job? The stuff that you both failed to pay attention to and got angry at everyone else in this club for not helping you become aware of it sooner despite your not paying attention? I was the one responsible for all that, and you know damn well that's the truth."

He hung his head once more. "And yes, this performance I had us do just now? That was my way of apologizing. And I truly, honest to God, am sorry." He lifted his head, turning it around to face each of the boys. "And I know you didn't believe me when I said this yesterday. And you might very well _still_ not believe it now. But all that stuff I was doing and saying? I genuinely didn't mean any of it. That mean stuff I was saying? I was lying through my teeth the whole time. Those horrible things I said I would do? All bluffs and counterbluffs. Smoke and mirrors. I wouldn't have gone through with _any_ of it." He pointed at Calvin. "The terms I said would be put into place if I had _won_ that fight against you? I never would have made any of that a reality. That moment where I was apparently strangling you to death? The closest I planned to get to that was to only get you to lose consciousness. And if it had reached that point, I would have _definitely_ let you go, regardless of whether or not Susan had given me a straight answer to my ultimatum at that point. And as for you Susan?" He pointed at her, a guilty look on his face. "I never actually planned to go through with my threats, or my statements. There's no way in Hell I would have actually bedded you against your will." He sighed, and then hung his head. "Hell, after everything that's gone down at this point, I don't think I'd bother bedding with you even if you _did_ give me your consent. But that's not the point."

Zack sighed once more, shaking his head side to side afterwards. "Like I said, none of that stuff was for real. I didn't mean any of it." He lifted his finger. "And yes, I know that you're now all probably about to ask, 'if you didn't mean anything behind it, why did you do it?'. And believe me, the answer to that question is what I'm about to give to you right now."

He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Short answer? I was an idiot. Long answer?" He repeated his deep breath and exhalation from before. "I had a goal in mind. I wanted to achieve that goal. Very much. And just this Monday, I ended up taking inspiration, from admittedly not necessarily the most reputable of sources, to try to go to extreme measures for that goal. I admit now that I was stupid to take such a route. But at the time, I didn't think things would get anywhere _near_ as bad as they did."

Zack sighed, and then looked at Daniel. "I honestly thought that things would all work in the end without hardly any trouble once I was done with the whole business. I legitimately expected the entirety of my past behavior and whatnot to be enough to convince you that I had things under control and that I wasn't truly behaving differently with the full intent of going out of my way to make life Hell for you, Diana, and all the other people in this club apart from Charlotte. I genuinely believed that we were good enough friends and knew each other well enough for you to always have even a single tiny part of you that would always give me the benefit of the doubt regardless of how heinous an action I legitimately, or merely allegedly, committed." He hung his head once more. "I realize now, that this was in fact not the case."

He lifted his head once more. "Granted, maybe it would have been smarter for me to actually tell you guys beforehand about what I was up to and how all that unsavory stuff I was up to was all just an act. But the way my mind was working at the time, I believed that, in order for that misguided plan of mine to work, I needed my behavior to look genuine and to fool a specific person that it was in fact for real. And for the sake of that belief, I chose instead to keep the true nature of my, as you put it so nicely Daniel, personality U-turn exclusively to myself so that you and everyone else would put on a convincing performance in believing that it was genuine.

"But now I realize, that I shouldn't have kept you guys in the dark about all that. Or, better yet, I never should have done any of that stuff, period. Lord knows I had plenty of warnings and chances to back out of this mess before I had the chance to make things any worse. My dad was already plenty worried about how I'd turn out from just the way I was behaving _before_ I started acting even more like a jackass then I usually do. And of course, we all know now that I done screwed that up."

He pointed at Calvin. "You told me point blank not to get Susan involved with my business during the very glee club session before I truly started putting my plan into action. Granted, maybe a small part of me was genuinely considering getting her involved, and maybe another similarly tiny part of me was miffed that Daniel ended up accepting your volunteering for deputy male lead instead of choosing me for that position. But the point is, I still should have listened to you."

He then pointed at Susan. "You had already made it crystal clear that you didn't want anything to do with me; and especially not as far as sexual matters were concerned. And of course, like an idiot, I continued putting on my act anyway, and look where it's gotten us all now."

He gestured vaguely at all the other gleeks apart from Daniel, Diana, and Charlotte. "You guys had already gotten pretty damned pissed and similarly unhappy with me thanks to all those downright mean shenanigans I pulled against you all. But of course, I chose my act over your feelings and tried to pass it all off as having a laugh."

He then pointed at Daniel. "And not to mention, _you_ had that pretty damned heated argument with me in the hallway this Tuesday before lunch about my behavior and what you'd heard about it from my victims. And I will admit, that argument did have me shaken and worried." He hung his head. "But of course, like an idiot, I pushed those worries to the back of my mind and _still_ went through with continuing my act. And we all know what that decision ended up leading to."

He looked at Mr. Schuester. "But what's even worse? Even after Calvin defeated me in that fight and put a stop to my planned act before it barely even had a chance to fully get going as much as I'd intended, and after how angry I'd gotten everyone at school, Calvin and Susan's parents, and you; not to mention put you at risk of losing your job; I _still_ went and continued to make things difficult."

Zack took one more deep breath, and then exhaled. "But in the end, it wasn't until first I got torn to shreds by Daniel _yet again_ during the mandatory bonding session at the football field this Wednesday, then got a brutal wakeup call yesterday at how the very actions I'd been doing to try to achieve the goal I was pursuing had actually caused its achievement to fly off even further from my reach, and _then_ got torn apart by Daniel a 3rd time yesterday to the point that he declared that I wasn't his friend anymore, if at all, that I _finally_ got it through my thick dumb skull just how much more harm I was causing then I'd thought. It was only after _that_ that I finally realized just how low I'd truly been stooping. And it was only after all _that_ that I realized. . ."

He hung his head. "Well," he then said. "To put it simply, all that shit I pulled? It wasn't worthwhile. At all. That goal I was trying to achieve by doing all that stuff that got us into this sorry mess? It just isn't worth what I had beforehand, or all the stuff that I _should_ have been working to achieve instead. In fact, that goal in question? It's not even worth saying what it even was. It's honestly that unimportant in comparison to what should have mattered." Granted, these last two statements were only half true. But quite frankly, as far as he was concerned, in comparison to his friendship with Daniel and everything else he'd screwed up over the last few days in his efforts to achieve it, that goal seemed just quite simply petty and superficial. Of course, for all he knew, there could yet be a chance for him to still achieve that goal in the future, and preferably through far more savory and acceptable means. But right now, that wasn't entirely all that important.

Zack lifted his head to face the entirety of his audience once more. "And to make a long story short, I'm sorry. For everything. I'm sorry for the pranks, for the bluffs, for the crimes, for the betrayals." He looked over at Hobbes, pointing at the dog in the process. "I'm even sorry for locking you up in that empty classroom the other day."

Hobbes raised his eyebrow, but otherwise didn't respond.

Zack looked back at the human members of his audience. "And suffice it to say, regardless of when, all I ask is that you allow, at least at _some_ point or other, for me to have another chance at being the kind of person that I actually am _and_ the kind of friend that I should be to all you guys. Let me make things right and course correct after all the shit I put you through and how close I came to ruining everything. Let me make up for all the crap I pulled that got so far as to put all your lives, futures, and dreams at risk of being ruined, sabotaged, and prevented from ever coming true." He looked at Mr. Schuester, pointing his finger at the teacher in the process. "Not to mention damn near cost you your job and put this club's existence once again under threat of nullification." He nodded his head. "All I ask, is at least a _chance_ to do things right. That's all I ask. Nothing more. Nothing less."

For what seemed like an eternity, Mr. Schuester and the gleeks all merely stared at Zack. Then, for what seemed like yet another eternity, all the gleeks (plus Hobbes, and minus Charlotte) looked to each other and seemed to silently debate and consider what Zack had said. Then, one by one, they all turned their heads to look straight at him.

Three painstaking seconds later, just as Zack was starting to get especially nervous about what the response would be to his offer, Daniel stood up, slowly walked over to Zack, and then placed his right hand on Zack's right shoulder. Zack looked over at the hand, and then up at Daniel's face. Daniel nodded, his gray eyes understanding and warm. "You had every reason to just go straight home yesterday and not even bother getting involved with all that crack house business; especially after what the other guys and I all said to you. But especially after what I said." He nodded his head once more. "But you came anyway. And thanks to you, our work in saving the girls, saving Diana, was made all that much easier. As much as she may still be having nightmares and seeing phantom velociraptors following her around and inexplicably appearing in the most unlikely of places, the simple fact is that she's alive and capable of recovering." He nodded his head yet again. "Simply put Zack, I accept your apology." He stared straight at Zack, the old familiar look of camaraderie present in his gray eyes. "This here? _This_ is the Zack that I know. You _are_ my friend. And by God, I hope that this time you'll be here to stay."

"Amen to that," said Diana.

"What she said," said the assorted subordinate gleeks. Except for Charlotte that is, who just rolled her eyes and turned her head to glare in boredom at the clock.

Susan nodded her head, a slight smile on her own face from both happiness that things were likely going to get better and relieved that she would now very likely no longer have to worry about falling victim to any further depravity from Zack.

Calvin, meanwhile, briefly continued to let a suspicious glare stay on his face and directed towards Zack. Hobbes, attuned as ever to his master's emotions, similarly kept his own canine scowl directed at Zack. Zack and the other people in the room noticed this, and looked towards them.

For a tense few seconds, Calvin stayed silent and glaring. "Your offer has been weighed," he said. "Your offer has been measured." He lowered his head. "And after careful consideration." He lifted his head, revealing himself to now have a smile on his face and his black eyes agleam with happiness and acceptance. "Your apology is accepted, and your offer is most certainly _not_ sadly wanting." He pointed his finger at Zack, smile still on his face, though not without a tiny ounce of suspicion and wariness present. "But I'm warning you," he then said. "You'd better not screw up as thoroughly as you did this week again. Especially if you know what's good for you. Got that?"

Zack nodded his head. "Damn straight I got that."

"Nice to know we understand each other."

Upon saying this, Calvin extended his hand towards Zack.

Zack smiled, clasped onto Calvin's hand with his own, and gave the autistic boy a firm handshake that the autistic boy just as eagerly returned.

And in that moment, even as Charlotte continued to keep herself largely isolated from the rest of the gleeks, none of the other people in the choir room could have felt any happier that day then they did at this specific moment. For while all of them had been strongly affected by all the drama that had gone down over the course of the week they'd just gone through, and some of them had even received very real cracks from the experience, in the end, the drama had still in the end lost the fight and failed to break them. And as long as Mr. Schuester or any of his students, regardless of generation, had anything to say about it, this entire glee club would forever remain victorious in such a way against the drama that would almost certainly forever plague them. No matter how hard the drama and those who actively stoked its fires tried, the New Directions would forever remain unbowed, unbent, and unbroken. And now, Zack Skinner had well and truly cast aside his days of actively working to stoke those fires. And he could not have possibly felt happier for it.

 **And just like that, another chapter complete. I certainly hope you all enjoyed what I had to offer in this chapter! It definitely is nice to see Zack properly acting like himself and on the road to getting back in everyone's good graces after the shit storm he brought upon everyone over the past few chapters. For that matter, I also hope you enjoyed the song choices, not to mention that nice little tidbit I gave you about Susan's time before glee club. Not to mention, let us hope we will have no need for Diana to have to wait until chapter 16 of the main GWAF story to be fully back to her usual self. And on another note, I originally had one final segment planned for this chapter that serves as a time for a brief bit of comedy. But the fact that I'd already taken so long to write this chapter as I did, combined with how the way the last segment ended seemed a fair bit more appropriate of an ending for the chapter at this point, I have decided to cut that part from this chapter. And with that being said, I again hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and that you all (and I do mean ALL) leave a respectable amount of feedback (remember, ZERO FLAMES ALLOWED!). Remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 review posted for this new chapter by the time I finish the next chapter in order for said next chapter to be posted. Get that? Got that? Good. Again, hope you enjoyed this new chapter, that you are looking forward to the final three chapters to come for this story, and that we all remember and honor the memory of Mark Salling. The crime that got him in jail was truly heinous. And I am not going to pretend that it isn't. But nevertheless, let us honor him at his time of departure from the living in memory of the time in which we all knew him as the misguided, jerkish, and morally ambiguous, but in the end still loyal and lovable rogue with a hidden bigass heart of gold, Noah "Puck" Puckerman.**

 **Song Used (high time, I got back to using this):**

 **Hold On - Colbie Caillat - Performed by Susan Caraway**

 **Other Side of Down - David Archuleta - Performed by Calvin Martenson**

 **Waiting for Superman - Daughtry - Performed by Daniel Taymor**

 **Human - Christina Perri - Performed by Diana Eberhart**

 **Stay With Me - Sam Smith - Performed by Zack Skinner and the New Directions boys**

 **Coming up Next: The very next week, history repeats itself in that the New Directions are once again tasked with doing a performance for the McKinley High fall semester assembly. However, in the days leading up to this assembly, the glee club's being tasked with this duty will soon turn out to not necessarily be the** ** _only_** **way in which history shall end up repeating itself when it comes to the New Directions and school assemblies.**


	25. History Just Loves to Repeat Itself

**Hey there everybody! I am proud to present you another chapter! And it didn't even take me till the next month to post this time! What an achievement! In all seriousness though, hope you all enjoy this new chapter! I especially am happy right now in posting this chapter. For not only is it yet more progress being made in writing and posting this story, but I am also posting it relatively not too long after seeing the brand new Black Panther movie for the first time, so I'm feeling REALLY happy right now ^_^. Therefore, he's me again hoping very much that you read, enjoy, and review this newest addition to GWAF: A New Generation is Born!**

 **A/N: One more thing to delay you all before we start; I do not own Glee. Alrighty then. With that out of the way, onward with the fic my loyal readers! Here's to hoping you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 25:**

 **History Just Loves to Repeat Itself**

The very next Monday, William Schuester couldn't have felt happier and more excited. He'd had a great weekend with his family, his job as glee club director was well and truly secure, and he was ready to truly cast aside the shadows and sour taste from the previous week even further then they'd already been. He smiled. For as a matter of fact, he knew just the other bit of news he'd gotten just this morning from Figgins himself to tell his students this recess to get them somewhat reasonably excited for the week.

The clock reached the exact time for the glee club session to begin, and he turned his head to face his students, smile still on his face at the sight of them mostly chatting and having a good day. Not even the fact that Charlotte was, as usual, the only one who wasn't involved in any of the happy chatting amongst the other gleeks was enough to dampen his mood.

"Alright everyone," he said. He clapped his hands. "Listen up."

All the students, plus Hobbes, turned their heads to face Mr. Schuester, their conversations ending so they could pay attention. Charlotte, rolling her eyes, did the same as her 12 peers, folding her arms across her chest in the process.

"Thank you," said Mr. Schuester. "So, we all know that today starts a new week for us. And if we're lucky, this week will end without a single shred of last week's string of drama present." He looked over at Diana. "That being said, forgive me for asking, but are you ok?"

The other gleeks all looked at Diana. Daniel, Susan, Calvin, Hobbes, and Zack were especially interested as they looked at her. The New Directions female lead took a deep breath, exhaled, and looked back at the teacher. "I'm getting better," she admitted. "I can definitely say that."

Her three fellow leads, plus Zack and Hobbes, nodded their heads in acceptance. The rest of the gleeks, apart from Charlotte of course, similarly nodded to indicate their acceptance of this answer.

"That's good," said Mr. Schuester. He looked at Zack. "And as for you, how are things at home?"

The entirety of the group looked over at Zack, all curious, despite themselves, as to just how the events of the previous Thursday had affected his home life and his punishment for what had happened the previous Tuesday and Monday. The black boy took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked straight at his entire audience. "I'm not gonna lie," he began. "I did get a little flack from my parents at first for A: not informing them immediately of your cancelling the after-school glee club session that day and that they could pick me up early that day and B: heading within direct vicinity of that crack house and having involvement in a situation that ended up involving the police." He took another deep breath, exhaling just like he had with the first deep breath. "But that being said, thanks to my help in resolving the situation that was unfolding at the time, my _not_ being directly affiliated with the guilty party in this case, and my honorable and genuinely selfless intent behind my help, they've decided to allow my punishment to largely remain as it currently is without adding any further elements to it or extending how long I have to wait before its over. And they've also said that, while I'm still not yet allowed to visit any of you guys' houses myself, I _am_ now allowed to have you guys visit me at my house, but only as long as the visit doesn't result in me violating the terms of my punishment in any fashion. So yeah, things are good as far as I'm concerned."

He nodded his head. "For that matter," he then said, "I've got some other good news." He whistled, shaking his head slightly. "And boy, it took some serious work from the people involved to convince my parents to let them come inside to tell me about it." He looked back at his audience. "Nevertheless, as of this past Friday, thanks to my actions the previous Thursday, I am now officially on a week of probation as a minor member of the basketball team. And if I make it through this whole week without causing any trouble, I'll be allowed to both stay on the team _and_ have the chance to earn my position as basketball team leader back in the time we still have left to wait before the McKinley High basketball season officially starts for this school year." He chuckled. "So yeah, like I said, things are good on my end." He looked straight at Mr. Schuester. "You?"

The other students all turned their heads to Mr. Schuester, who nodded. "Glad to hear that Zack, and yes, things are good on my end to." He gave his entire current roster of students a thumbs-up. "As you probably may have guessed, I'm currently still safe as far as my job is concerned. And as a direct result of my direct involvement in resolving the crack house situation last Thursday, it is entirely possible that I'll only need to wait the entirety of this week and next week before my time under watch from your parents and the authorities ends." He let a more serious and meaningful look come on his face. "At least, that is, as long as nothing shady happens involving you guys in that time period, and especially as long as nothing happens where it looks as if I did nothing to put a stop to any potential shady events." The students all nodded their heads, Zack very noticeably gulping nervously.

"Got it," he thought to himself. He shuddered mentally. "Definitely better make sure not to screw up over these next two weeks."

Charlotte, meanwhile, had similar thoughts on her mind. "Noted," she thought to herself. "Coach Sylvester and I had best make sure I keep myself in line over these next two weeks . . . at least, as long as that's what coach Sylvester wants."

"But enough about that," said Mr. Schuester. "Time for some other matters." Much like Diana and Zack had done not too long ago, he took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Alright, as I said last week, just to remind you, Nationals is in New York City this season." The gleeks all nodded their heads and mumbled acknowledgment; except, naturally, Charlotte, who rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"I'm not an amnesiac," she thought to herself. "I still remember when you told us that the _first_ time thank you very much." She directed a side glance at the clock. "Good God," she thought to herself. "Do I _really_ have to spend a whole half hour in here today right now?"

"Glad you all remember," said Mr. Schuester, completely unaware of what was on Charlotte's mind. "Now, naturally, we still have to worry about making it past sectionals and regionals before we can properly worry about that." He lifted his finger. "However, before we fully get to work on worrying about Sectionals, not to mention about the annual New Directions mashup competition we'll be holding, as per this club's tradition, this coming November, there is one noteworthy event this week we all need to focus on."

This instantly got all the students' attention, just as Mr. Schuester had hoped. "As you are all probably aware," the teacher began. "We'll be having our fall semester school assembly this Thursday. And, as per another unofficial New Directions tradition, Figgins has assigned for us to do a performance at that assembly."

At the sound of this, 12 of the gleeks whistled, and shook their heads half in excitement and half in dread. Hobbes directed a look at his master, his eyes seemingly filled with a canine look of dread and concern. Raj, on the other hand, merely closed his eyes and nodded up and down with a clear 'I knew it' look on his face.

"Now as I can tell you are all clearly aware," said Mr. Schuester, "this club has had a bit of a history when it comes to making performances at school assemblies."

"That's one way to put it," Calvin mumbled under his breath.

Susan snorted. "Understatement," she agreed.

Even Diana and Daniel couldn't help but numbly nod their heads. Even they knew all to well about the myriad controversies, incidents, and borderline scandals that had unfolded in the past during glee club performances at school assemblies.

"But hear me out," said Mr. Schuester. "As much as reputation may claim, not _every_ performance by the glee club at a McKinley High school assembly has ended in disaster or some similarly unpleasant incident. The last time such a case occurred was 3 years ago. And there hasn't been a single incident following that time yet."

"Indeed," said Raj. "Keyword being _yet_."

"And right now," Mr. Schuester continued, seemingly ignoring Raj's comment, "I'm certain that this year will be another safe year." He walked over to the piano, picked up three stacks of paper from the top, and walked over to hand them over to his students. "I've been very careful in selecting what to have you perform at the assembly this week," he then said as he started passing the papers to each of his students. "And I am quite certain indeed that there will be no reason for any controversy or outcry present within these songs. In other words, they're perfectly safe."

The gleeks all looked over the three chosen songs that Mr. Schuester had handed them the printed lyrics for. One by one, they each allowed varying degrees of uncertainty, polite interest, confusion, disinterest, or outright disgust come on their faces.

"Well," said Diana. "These are certainly . . . um . . . interesting songs you've picked Mr. Schue," said Diana. Most of the other gleeks merely nodded their heads and mumbled politely in agreement. Charlotte opted to merely roll her eyes. Calvin, however, had other thoughts.

He promptly did a spit take literally two seconds after hearing what Diana had said. "Interesting?" he said. He pointed his finger at Diana. "Look, I'm sorry Diana, but you are being _way_ too kind here."

"Calvin," said Daniel.

"I'm serious," said Calvin. He thrusted his copy of one of the songs towards Daniel, waving it around in front of the dark-haired boy's face. "Look at this! Look at this! There's no way any person in their right mind could possibly have any interest in this garbage in this day and age! I mean, look at the lyrics in this thing! When was this written? 1840?"

"Calvin," said Mr. Schuester, his tone a mixture between annoyed and resigned. Admittedly enough, he had been expecting for something like this to happen. But even so, he didn't feel the need for Calvin to make such a huge deal out of the whole business.

"Look Mr. Schue," said Calvin. "I get that you're a real sucker for a bunch of the oldies in music. And honestly, I can see the appeal in more than one song from before my time. But this?" He gestured at the music on the sheets he and the other gleeks had been given. "How can you possibly suggest having us perform this drivel to audiences? _Or_ see any appeal in them yourself? You couldn't have even been an _idea_ at the time this stuff was first released! Hell, your _grandparents_ couldn't have possibly been an idea at the time this stuff was first released!"

"I have to agree," said Susan, herself now looking very annoyed and displeased with the music the glee club director had selected for their upcoming performance at the assembly. "I mean, I can see the appeal of songs from older years, but this stuff might as well have been written during the time of the dinosaurs!" She slapped her copy of the lyric papers on her lap angrily, pointed her finger at Mr. Schuester, and shouted, "There is no way we could possibly perform these fossils in front of everyone this Thursday and be taken seriously! Don't you think we're gonna get ridiculed enough this year?"

"Yeah!" Dunlap yelled in agreement, his red eyes blazing with disbelief. "Have you been smoking or something? Why is it so impossible for you to suggest for us to perform anything that people will actually be even remotely familiar with these days?"

"Yeah!" Darren shouted. "Or if not anything modern, then couldn't you have at least picked a few of the tunes featured in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies? That shit's actually enjoyable! And I'd actually understand it if you were to have picked any of the songs from _those_!"

"Yeah!" Amber agreed.

"What they said," said Naomi.

"The other students around here already think we're fools!" Cody yelled. He waved his lyric papers around in the air in a fury. "Are you _trying_ to give them more ammunition for them to use against us the next time they try to bully us?"

"Damn straight Cody," Bailey hissed in agreement, her entire face clearly showing her absolute disgust with the song choices that Mr. Schuester had decided upon. She then looked at the teacher. "You want us to be respected by the other students around here? Well I'm telling you this right now, this music you've just sentenced us to couldn't be any _less_ demanding of respect, especially not as far as everyone else at this school is concerned! To sum up my thoughts on this music, I have, from the immortal words of Mercedes Jones Evans, Hell! To! The! No!"

"I've been a student here for three years before this year," said Raj. He waved his lyric papers frantically through the air above his head. "You can do better than this!"

"With all due respect Mr. Schue," said Zack, who then shook his head side to side with his eyes closed. "I'm afraid that I must agree. I _really_ don't think these are the best choices of songs for us to perform this Thursday."

Daniel and Diana looked each other in the eyes, a silent message passing between them, and then they looked at Mr. Schuester with the exact same look of sheepish guilt on their faces. "I'm sorry to say this," said Daniel. "But, I'm afraid I have to agree with Zack and the others."

"Me to," Diana agreed.

Upon hearing all this, Mr. Schuester took a brief look at Charlotte to see if she would have any comment. The cheerleader remained silent. Despite her silence, however, the very stern glare she was directing at the papers in her hands, and how her hands were tightly clenched almost into fists around their grips on the papers, was all he needed to see to know how she seemed to feel about the song choices.

The teacher sighed, hung his head, and shook it side to side. "I should have guessed this would be hard." He lifted his head to face the students, exhaling a second time in the process. "Look," he began. "I understand that you have reservations against the songs I've picked for you to sing this Thursday."

He lifted his finger to forestall further comment, though not unkindly. "But please, look at what's happened over the past week. Can you really blame me for trying as hard as I am to be absolutely certain that there won't be any more incidents within the immediate future? Just the previous week, this club was at risk of being permanently shut down yet again." He pointed at Zack. "And as we've established, while there is plenty of blame to go around, you still hold a respectable portion of responsibility for that. And all that in mind, don't you think I can get some slack here?"

The students all seemed to think to themselves. Even Hobbes seemed to hang his head in a mixture of shame and irritation. "Well, yes," said Daniel. "But still. . ."

"And for that matter," said Mr. Schuester. "I know that you've said that you appreciate multiple songs from before your time. And yes, I will gladly admit that the Guardians of the Galaxy movies did help bring some much-needed appreciation of multiple such songs to modern audiences. But even so, some of those songs well and truly need continued appreciation. And as much as you may not be all that enthusiastic about these particular songs, I think that we should at least try to give them a chance nonetheless."

The gleeks all looked each other in the eyes, clearly uncertain what to think.

"And besides," said Mr. Schuester. "At the very least, it's just for this one assembly. Surely you can stomach these music choices for at least this one single day? I'm sure you'll have plenty of time over the course of this entire school year to perform songs more compatible with your tastes. So one moment of these songs for that one day will surely not be too big of a price to pay in exchange, right?"

Most of the other gleeks still seemed uncertain. Then they heard Diana say, "I guess we can think that over." The other gleeks briefly directed surprised glances at Diana; glances that only got more confused when they saw Daniel nod his head in agreement.

"That's a start," said Mr. Schuester. He nodded his head. "And with that at least, I'd best go ahead and let you all know what the assignment for this week is."

As the teacher turned to head to the white board, however, Diana and Daniel turned their heads to face the rest of the gleeks, a silent 'play along' message in their eyes. At that point, the other gleeks all made silent 'oh' remarks and nodded their heads in understanding. As if to then emphasize the matter, Daniel then hurriedly passed a small slip of paper to Zack. Zack opened it up and saw the words 'meet up with us later this afternoon' written on it. Zack nodded his head, and then gave Daniel a thumbs up. He'd definitely make sure to be present for this seeming impromptu upcoming meeting.

. . . . .

That afternoon, the 13 gleeks, plus Hobbes, were all gathered in the backstage area of the auditorium. And, naturally, much to their shame and reluctance, Mr. Schuester was not at all aware of this. In fact, as it so happened, they were currently supposed to be practicing the songs Mr. Schuester had assigned for them to sing at the assembly during their time in the auditorium at that very moment, while he himself worked on discussing with Figgins and other necessary authority figures on arrangements and other necessary details regarding the upcoming sectionals competition. And furthermore, Mr. Schuester had chosen to forego giving them an assignment for the week in favor of allowing more time to practice for the assembly. This logically meant that, over the course of the days leading up to the assembly, both recess sessions _and_ after school sessions would be devoted to practicing for the assembly. And yet, despite how things had ended up unfolding in the past at this time of the year, or perhaps maybe because he had too much faith in them not running the risk of screwing things up after all that had gone down the previous week, he had chosen to trust them with taking care of assembly practicing on their own during the after school sessions for the entirety of the days leading up the assembly itself; a fact that they were all thoroughly taking advantage of at that very moment, though not necessarily feeling happy about it.

"Are you really certain we should be doing this?" Calvin asked. "I mean, I know Mr. Schue really has his mind set on those fossils; but pulling off a meeting like this behind his back? Color me negative, but this hardly feels like a very nice thing to do right now after what happened last week."

"Calvin's got a point," Susan agreed. She nodded her head up and down with her eyes closed. "Mr. Schue got in enough trouble last week, not to mention multiple other times in the years before our time, for incidents involving the glee club members going on without his knowledge. And with all that in mind, I really don't think holding a meeting like this without him knowing about it is entirely the right thing to do."

Several of the other gleeks likewise proceeded to indicate their unease at the clandestine nature of their current meeting and the lack of Mr. Schuester's knowledge or involvement with it.

Daniel sighed. "I get it guys," he began. "Yes, maybe we could have handled this differently." He extended his hand forward. "But right now, this current matter between us needs to be discussed. And as things currently stand, Mr. Schue is hardly likely to want to hear anything about this, let alone listen to us if he did let us talk about it with him."

"Daniel's right."

Diana nodded her head. "We understand that this is hardly palatable for us to do after what happened last week. And yes, I'm sure some of us can understand where Mr. Schue is coming from with his current song suggestions for us to perform at the assembly this Thursday."

The other gleeks proceeded to grumble or roll their eyes.

"But the simple fact is," Diana continued. The other gleeks promptly redirected their full attention towards her and Daniel. "Right now, Mr. Schue, well-meaning as he is, is quite simply trying to play things _too_ safely right now."

"Indeed," Daniel agreed. "And for that matter, as safe as he thinks these songs are, there's also the fact that, as much as they may or may not allow us to safely avoid an incident like the kind that this club's assembly performances have gained a reputation for, he's only setting us up for a different form of humiliation." He made sure all of the other gleeks had their attention on him. "You all made it crystal clear. The songs Mr. Schue's picked for us? There's no way we can sing them and be taken seriously afterward. And as blunt as Calvin was about the matter right out of the gate, it is very much true nonetheless."

"You got that right," Calvin muttered.

"Which is precisely why, for this meeting," Diana began, "we will potentially discuss appropriate songs for us to perform instead as well as on just how to practice for them without spoiling the surprise for Mr. Schue."

The other gleeks all started thinking to themselves. But then, in unison, Calvin, Susan, and Zack raised their eyebrows in confusion.

"Potentially?" asked Calvin.

"What do you mean potentially?" Susan asked.

Diana looked at Daniel, a clear 'your turn' look in her green eyes.

Daniel nodded. "As clear as we all feel and said about our current song choices and our wishes and hopes to make compatible alterations, you guys have also made it clear that, in light of last week, our current actions may not necessarily be the nicest things for us to do as far as Mr. Schue is concerned."

The other gleeks thought to themselves. "Well yeah," Zack admitted. "That is true. But still. . ."

"Which is precisely why," said Diana, "Daniel and I are going to allow us all to put to a vote whether we want to go through with our desire to change things for our upcoming assembly performance as we see fit or suck it up and do what Mr. Schue wants for the sake of respect and taking the easy route."

The other gleeks all thought to themselves once more. They spent multiple minutes in this state. Even Hobbes seemed to be deep in thought, but ultimately waiting for his master to voice his own decision before fully committing.

"All in favor," said Diana. "Say I."

Raj finally made his decision. "I," said the Indian American.

No sooner had Raj voiced his own decision when the rest of the gleeks proceeded, one by one, to voice their own.

"I," said Bailey.

"I," said Cody.

"I," said Amber.

"I," said Darren.

"I," said Naomi.

"I," said Dunlap.

"I," said Susan.

"I," said Calvin.

"Bark, bark," said Hobbes.

"I," said Zack.

All eyes promptly focused on Charlotte, who sighed, rolled her eyes in a mixture of annoyance and reluctance. "I," she managed to grumble.

"I," said Diana, a small smirk on her face while she also raised her hand as if to emphasize her comment.

Daniel smiled, his gray eyes agleam. "It is unanimous," he stated. "That's it." He picked up a prop gavel, slammed it down against the floor, and nodded his head. "The 'I's' have it. Change is what we all want for this assembly performance. And change is what we're all going to get."

"Here, here," said all the other gleeks. Charlotte, naturally, only mouthed the words.

"Excellent," said Daniel. He looked over at Diana, who nodded, and directed her own gaze back to their peers.

"Alright everyone," said Diana. "Starting now, let us discuss ideas for alternate songs."

The rest of the gleeks were all too happy to oblige.

. . . . .

Half an hour later, the gleeks had decided and agreed upon a complete alternate set list to replace the one Mr. Schuester had originally chosen. However, they had realized afterward that they'd need to find a different place to practice during after school sessions. For as it turned out, the chorus club would be holding their own after-school practice sessions in the auditorium due to how the chorus club's usual meeting room was now closed for repairs thanks to damage that had been caused by two rugby students who'd shown up drunk and gotten into a fight that very morning. However, they had also decided that it would be somewhat kinder for them not to ask Mr. Schuester himself for assistance in deciding upon an alternate practice spot for themselves to use, as they couldn't help but feel that knowledge of the circumstances would potentially lead to him trying to somehow work his way into being present to watch them at whatever alternate location he picked, as well as for the less sinister reason that they believed the knowledge would cause him unnecessary stress that he deserved to avoid after everything he'd been put through the previous week. And thus, here they now were in the hallway talking to the McKinley High janitor, Damian Holloway.

"You want me to do what?"

Daniel winced upon hearing this question. He was now starting to realize that this would probably me more difficult then he'd thought. "Ok," he began. "I'll admit, this is a rather odd request for us to ask of you. . ."

"Oh really?" The janitor scoffed, already feeling as if he were gaining yet more gray hairs right that very instant. "What gave that away?"

Daniel gritted his teeth. Zack decided to try to help get some of the weight off of his friend's shoulders, and he stepped forward. "Look," he said. "I know this sounds weird. . ."

The janitor pointed his finger at Zack, his face now hardened into an accusatory glare. "Oh no," he growled. "Don't you say a word to me pal!"

Zack reared back, shock firmly etched on his face.

The janitor snarled again, and kept his finger pointed at Zack. "You think I'm gonna do _you_ a favor? After how all those airheads wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to try to help them wake you up from unconsciousness last Monday? After all the extra work I had to do last Tuesday because of your screwed-up shenanigans? After how I had to clean up a mess inside one of my supply closets _and_ fix the door to that very same closet thanks to those cheerleaders you hired to kidnap two of your peers choosing to use it as a holding cell?"

Zack and the rest of the gleeks were briefly lost for words at the last bit. Even Hobbes looked perplexed.

Zack eventually regained his voice and pointed his own finger at the still disgruntled janitor, a clear look of confusion still on his face. "Ok, I understand where you're coming from," he began. "Especially as far as those first two details are concerned, but that last bit?" He shook his head side in confusion. "A: How did you even know that? And B: Just for the record, that wasn't even my fault."

"I don't care whose fault it was," Holloway snapped, clearly not in the mood for subtle details. He shook his head side to side. "The plain and simple fact here punk, is that there ain't no way in Hell I'm going to do any favors for you after all the gray hairs you gave me last week. Ipso facto, case-o closed-o."

The gleeks all looked at each other. Clearly, they were not going to make very much progress at the rate things were currently going. Diana stepped forward. "Please sir," she said. "I know you've had a rough time last week. We all have." She pointed at Zack. "And yes, we are very sorry indeed that our friend here was responsible for a sizable portion of your rough time." Zack nodded, seeing no reason to get offended over what was quite simply a very true statement.

"But let me ask you," Diana continued. "Is it fair to judge or punish an entire group that may or may not even be guilty just because of the actions of one or two individuals?"

Holloway thought to himself. "Um," he thought out loud, uncertain just what to say.

"Is it fair to judge and hate all Islamic people just because of the actions of terrorist groups?" Diana asked. "Is it fair to unfairly judge and hate all Germans because of the Nazis? Would it be fair to place unfair judgment on all black people, period, just because of a bad experience you had at the hands of a single small group of them?"

"No," said Holloway, the answer coming instantly to his mind and tongue.

"Then there is no need to necessarily consider this favor we're asking of you to be something done specifically for our friend here," said Diana, again indicating Zack. "Consider it a deed for all of us together. And if not that, at least for Mr. Schuester. You're familiar with him, right?"

The janitor nodded his head. "Yes," he responded. "I'll admit, I'm not necessarily his closest friend, but I'd say I'm on decent terms with him."

"Then let those terms continue to be decent," Diana continued. She nodded her head. "Allow us to handle this slight dilemma without having to get him involved and subject to further stress after what he got put through last week and how much care he still needs to put into the next couple weeks or so to get himself fully out of the woods. You're the janitor. With all the work you have to do keeping it clean and in working order, you know this school, all the way down to every individual, insignificant, nook and cranny. If there's anyone who'd know the perfect alternate location for my teammates and I to practice that suits our current stated needs, it would almost certainly have to be you."

The janitor thought to himself, then nodded, and then also shrugged nonchalantly. "You could say that, I suppose."

Diana nodded her own head in agreement. "Indeed." She clasped her hands together, wringing her fingers together. "So, does this mean you'll help us?"

Holloway thought to himself once again, and eventually nodded his head. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt," he said. He then pointed at Zack once more, glare back on his face. "Know this pal, I'm only doing this for your teacher and peers. I ain't doing it for _you_. Got that?"

Zack gulped, and then nodded his head up and down. "Yes sir," he responded.

"Good," said the janitor. He directed his attention back to the rest of the gleeks. "Alright then," he said. "That being said, let's get a move on. Best I go ahead and show you your temporary new practice zone before you leave school today so that we won't have any unnecessary trouble finding each other again tomorrow."

"You know a good place to serve as that?" Daniel asked.

The janitor chuckled. "Have no fear," he said. "I know just the place."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Calvin asked. He clapped his hands twice. "Chop-chop!"

 **And just like that, another chapter finished and posted! Once again, I hope you all enjoyed and read this new chapter, and that you leave plenty of feedback! Remember, I require an exact minimum of 1 (maybe 2) reviews for this chapter by the time the next chapter is completed in order for the next one to be allowed to be posted. And that in mind, I'd best all remind you how, as of this new chapter, there are only 2 chapters left for this story before this story ends and I return to my work on fanfiction in the Teen Titans fanfiction community. But until that time comes, let us continue to enjoy the Glee-ful work I have to offer you in THIS fanfiction community! Again, hope you all enjoyed my latest offering ^_^**

 **Coming up Next: The time has come for the New Directions to make their latest performance at a McKinley High fall assembly. How will things unfold for the glee club and the rest of the school at** ** _THIS_** **assembly? Find out next chapter!**


	26. The Assembly

**Alright everyone, I proudly present a new chapter! Definitely hope it proves worth the wait and that you read and leave plenty of feedback! In this chapter, the time has finally come for the assembly. How will** ** _this_** **one unfold for our favorite glee club? Let's find out, shall we?**

 **A/N: But first, let me remind you that I do not own Glee, or any songs used in this chapter.**

 **Chapter 26:**

 **The Assembly**

Mr. Schuester was in a good mood that Thursday morning. And for good reason if he did say so himself. Over the course of the past few days, things had gone remarkably smoothly. In fact, there had, miraculously enough, not been a single ounce of drama to pop up over the course of this week so far; at least, not that he knew of anyway. And as far as he knew, he saw no reason to believe that the fact he wasn't aware of any drama to have occurred that week was necessarily a bad thing. Sure, a tiny part of his mind was very much suspicious about how nearly the entire week had passed without any form of drama popping up; especially considering just how jam packed with drama the previous week had been. But right now, the rest of his mind was strong and loud enough to drown out and cast aside that one tiny portion of his mind that seemed destined to be the designated naysayer.

His smile widened as he remembered exactly why today was especially important as far as the New Directions were concerned. "Today's the assembly," he thought to himself. He nodded his head to himself. "Here's me, hoping that today won't be the day we finally end up having another assembly incident."

"I see you're in a good mood this morning."

Mr. Schuester turned his head. Sure enough, as he'd suspected upon hearing the voice behind him, none other than Emma was also present in the hallway. "Good morning to you to," he promptly said.

Emma smiled, spreading her hands sideways in an 'I rest my case' fashion. "Yep," she said. "Definitely in a good mood this morning."

"So are you, it would seem," said Will. He chuckled and gestured for his wife to come closer. "Come on," he said. "We're already both here in this hallway. What do you say we take a little walk together before school starts?"

"Sounds like a plan."

For several minutes, the husband and wife made their way through the McKinley High hallways, a companionable silence between them as they thought of how smoothly the current week had unfolded so far and how things would hopefully continue to be that smooth all the way to the end of this day and the day after that. And soon after this topic reached Emma's head. . .

"You ready for the assembly today?" Emma asked.

Will thought to himself. "I certainly would like to think so," he eventually responded. "I'd certainly hate it if this was the year that we finally ended up having another assembly disaster unfold. Especially after how hard I worked to pick the absolutely safest songs I could think of."

Emma chuckled upon hearing this. "I'll bet you did," she than said.

Truth be told, she was well aware of how her husband tended to pick songs that were, to say the least, inaccessible to his students when he put the level of effort at deciding upon setlists for them that he currently indicated he'd taken. Nevertheless, right now there was a part of her mind that was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt this time.

"Granted," Will continued, "I haven't really heard much word from the kids about how they're practicing for the assembly has gone aside from what I have a pretty good feeling was strictly all that was necessary for them to say. And quite frankly, a part of me is still more than a little concerned about how there has been basically _zero_ drama this week . . . especially compared to last week."

The teacher took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "But still," he then said. "Considering just how much drama I had to go through last week, let's just say that I'm more than willing to hope right now that the fact I haven't heard of any further drama as far as the glee club is concerned is a case of 'no news is good news'."

Emma thought to herself, and then nodded her head. "I suppose I can't really blame you," she admitted.

"That's good to hear," said Will.

At that moment, they happened to reach the middle of one of the hallways, and promptly came to a stop in surprise when they saw the state of the room directly to their right. The room in question was the room typically used for the chorus club meetings. Except right now, the door was closed and had a sheet of paper indicating that the room was 'closed for repairs' placed on the front, and the windows were also boarded up and similarly marked to indicate need for repairs.

Will eventually regained his voice. "How . . . when did this happen?"

"You just noticed this?"

The teacher and guidance counselor turned their heads in time to see a Korean American girl dressed in the distinctive outfit of the cheerios standing nearby. The girl shook her head side to side. "The chorus club room's been like this since this Monday. A couple of morons from the rugby team apparently showed up drunk that morning, got into a fight, and caused mass damage to this room over the course of their drunken brawl." She looked at locked door and boarded up windows of the chorus club practice room. "I'll say this, I'm very hopeful indeed that the repairs will be finished at their planed finish date tomorrow and this room will be open for its intended use once more starting next week."

The cheerio looked back at the two adults, who briefly continued to remain confused. "Wh . . . where did you practice?" Will eventually asked, evidently having managed to guess that the younger girl was in fact a member of the chorus club. He pointed at the locked room. "You obviously couldn't practice in there."

"In the auditorium," the cheerio answered. She then raised her eyebrow. "Didn't your students tell you?"

Mr. Schuester shook his head. "Strangely enough, no." He looked back at the cheerio. "I'll admit though, it was certainly nice of them to let you and your group practice alongside them."

The cheerio directed an even more baffled look right back at Mr. Schuester upon hearing this comment. The teacher raised his eyebrow in confusion upon sight of that look. Emma, meanwhile, was now starting to feel slightly nervous.

"What are you talking about?" said the cheerio. "They weren't in there with us." She folded her arms across her chest, her eyebrow raised and the rest of her face similarly looking confused. "Did they honestly not tell you about this Mr. Schue?"

For what seemed like an hour, Mr. Schue found himself desperately trying to think of an adequate response. However, the still comparatively long silence that ensued as Mr. Schue kept his teeth gritted, eyes closed, and mind grinding furiously to think of what to say soon proved to be enough of an answer for the younger girl. "Well, I'll admit," she than said. "This is certainly strange. I mean, considering how you're their teacher and especially after everything that went down last week, you'd think one of them would have told you directly or at least left some sort of hint about what was going on."

At the sound of a bell ringing, the cheerio seemed to wince. "Crap, I'm sorry, I got to go." She turned around and ran off down the hall back the way she'd come, clearly in a hurry to get to class before the next bell rang to signal the true beginning of 1st period classes. "Have a nice day!" she yelled before she left the hallway.

Seconds after the younger girl had left, Emma turned her head to face her husband. One look was all she needed to tell how very confused and somewhat nervous her husband now was. As it so happened, Mr. Schuester now couldn't help but feel worried about the news he'd just received regarding his students and their after-school practice sessions from the past three days. And for that matter, he was now finding it especially hard to ignore the more negative and suspicious part of his mind, which was now very loudly making note of all that he'd just learned combined with the very same details he'd earlier been willing to dismiss and give the benefit of the doubt.

With a gulp, deep breath, and respectable amount of will power, Will eventually managed to get himself somewhat calmed back down. He looked back at Emma. "I think we'd better get going," said Will. "We don't want to be late for work."

Emma thought to herself, and then nodded. "Right," she then said, clearly in agreement while still feeling somewhat uncertain over the news she and Will had just learned. She turned and hurried off to get to her office. "I'll catch up with you later," she then said right before she left the hallway.

"I'll be waiting," her husband called in her direction. He turned his head to face the direction leading to his classroom, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Now, now," he thought to himself. "There's no need to get _too_ worried right now about all this. I'm sure they had a good reason to keep all this a secret." He walked down the hall, getting closer and closer to his classroom with each step. "I mean, come on, considering how much drama I had to put up with last week, maybe they were trying to let me have a nice reprieve by only allowing strictly themselves to worry about these unexpected developments. I mean, it's not like they had any other ulterior motives behind this secrecy alongside such a selfless intention. Right?"

Even as he had these thoughts, however, the designated nay-sayer side of his mind couldn't help but point out both how his students had been less than impressed with the songs he'd chosen for them to sing at the assembly today and how many of the assembly incidents and other unpleasant events in the New Directions' history had unfolded somewhat as a result of leaving the students to their own devices as he'd done this very week. But nevertheless, he tried his hardest to keep these more negative thoughts to the back of his mind. He didn't want to believe that things could possibly be at risk of getting too bad today. The last thing he wanted was to believe something like that. But at the same time, that very annoying nay-sayer portion of his mind seemed in no hurry whatsoever to shut up and go away.

. . . . .

A couple hours later, Mr. Schuester was feeling somewhat better, but still reasonably nervous as he sat next to Emma on the bottom row of the bleachers in the gym. As of now, only 5 minutes remained before the assembly was supposed to begin, and the gym was jam packed with the obligatory crowd of students and faculty. And despite the various conversations and other forms of chattering going on between everyone else in the audience, all of the talking seemed to be background noise in Mr. Schue's mind as he continued thinking, wondering, and worrying about just what was to be in store for the New Directions' scheduled performance for the assembly.

He looked directly at the 'stage' that had been set up as usual for the assembly. At this current moment, all 13 of his current glee club students, plus Hobbes, were gathered around either directly behind the curtain, or at least in the 'backstage area'. And as Mr. Schue's own luck would currently have it, not even the small pep talk he'd had with them at least 9-10 minutes prior hadn't helped to ease his mind. For as excited as they'd all seemed to be, he just had not been able to shake off the feeling that there had been a moment or two where they'd seemed to have either lied or at least not quite told the full truth.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Stop thinking like that," he thought to himself. "Everything will be fine."

Meanwhile, the gleeks themselves were similarly both excited and nervous. Unlike their teacher, however, they were feeling far more excited than they were nervous. Or at least . . . most of them were.

"I am so hoping to God that this doesn't end like last week's cafeteria performance ended," Calvin whispered.

Susan placed her hand on Calvin's shoulder, and the autistic boy turned his head to face her. "Don't worry Calvin," said Susan. "Everything will be fine." She let a wide smile come on her face, her blue eyes agleam. "And besides, you remember perfectly well how careful we were in making our alternate setlist and how hard we worked in practicing for today. Trust me, this performance will _not_ be another Tuesday food fight. I know that for a fact."

"She's right you know," said Zack. "I'd listen to her if I were you."

"Ha-ha," Calvin said sarcastically. "Ha-ha-ha," he snorted sarcastically again as he turned his head to face Zack, a half amused and half irritated look on his face. "Like I don't already do that all the time."

"You absolutely sure this will work?"

The gleeks all looked over at Raj, who seemed to be dealing with some pre-performance jitters of his own. "You guys each have at least one more year at this school to maintain or repair good reputations. This is my last year, and I _really_ don't want to risk getting any more humiliation from the student body here than my being in the glee club may have already made me."

Bailey placed her hand on Raj's shoulder. Cody briefly narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth in a silent snarl at the sight of this, but quickly bit his tongue to keep himself cool. "She's just giving him reassurance as a friend. Nothing more, nothing less," he thought to himself. "No need to lose your cool."

"Don't worry Raj," said Bailey. "This isn't going to end like last Tuesday's cafeteria performance. I promise you that. And besides," she spread her hands out sideways. "You're practically a shoe-in for class clown this year amongst the seniors for the year book nominations. Today's performance tanks by some impossible twist of fate from out of nowhere? Just do your thing and remind this school of the power of your comedy chops. That will get your reputation fixed up in no time."

The other gleeks, Cody, Hobbes, and Charlotte included, all found themselves nodding their heads in agreement.

"See?" Bailey said as she gestured with her hand at her nodding fellow gleeks. "Even they agree with me here." She placed her other hand on Raj's other shoulder, Cody now fighting with even more willpower than before to avoid bursting with jealous rage. "Everything will be fine."

Raj took a look at Bailey, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then opened his eyes back up with a confident look now shining in them. "You're right," the Indian American boy admitted. "Everything will be fine." He directed his head to face the four leads, incidentally catching Zack in his gaze as well. "Well, I'm suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be; and dear God I hope the rest of you guys are."

"Have no fear," said Diana. She nodded her head, green eyes agleam with confidence. "We can do this."

"You heard her," said Daniel, his gray eyes similarly shining with a determined light, and his right fist raised and clenched into a fist. "Today, we are going to go out on that stage, and blow this audience away. And there ain't no reasonable way that this is going to end with the whole situation going pear shaped. And if, for some impossible inexplicable reason, we all end up going down in slushy mixture, then so be it."

"Damn straight," said Susan, flashing a thumbs-up in the process.

"That's what I'm talking about," Calvin agreed, ramming his right fist into his left palm.

"Grr, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF, ARF!" Hobbes growled and barked.

Calvin very quickly had to signal with his hand and hiss in 'shush' fashion to get Hobbes to quiet down. Despite this, there was still a noticeable silence from outside the area where the gleeks were all gathered before the silence was finally broken once more by the sound of Principal Figgins' voice coming from right on the other side of the curtains blocking the gleeks from view of the assembly audience. "I'll admit," said the principal. "No idea what that was about. Nevertheless;" he cleared his throat. "Welcome to this year's annual McKinley High fall assembly."

Hobbes and the gleeks instantly got into their necessary positions, the two main leads taking deep breaths to mentally prepare themselves for the coming time in the spotlight. Calvin, meanwhile, looked nervous as all Hell, yet still attempting simultaneously to put on a brave face.

"Now first, before we get truly started, I'm gonna tell you all right now that no, contrary to what recent rumors may say, I do _not_ worship cows. I do _not_ take part in a religion that requires me to get on my knees, bow three times in a row, and say 'I am not worthy' the entire time, upon sight of a cow. And even if I were, I would _not_ take part in such an action for every single individual cow in a mass group of them. As far as I'm concerned, just one act of such behavior is good enough for the entire herd."

The gleeks slumped, shoulders drooped, and clear 'are you for real?' looks on their faces. "Seriously?" Raj thought to himself. "All these years, and he _still_ finds more ridiculous rumors about himself to publicly disprove at assemblies?"

"That said," the principal continued. "We shall begin today's assembly with a performance from 1st place show choir Nationals competition winners, our own the New Directions, complete with a repertoire of entirely brand-new members. But first, let us allow our own American History teacher and glee club director, William Schuester, to come on stage for a speech."

A mild applause rang out from the other side of the curtain as Mr. Schuester evidently left his position on the bleachers and made his way onstage for his speech. As the gleeks listened from their side of the curtain, their teacher cleared his throat and began his speech.

"Good morning everyone," said Mr. Schuester. "I hope you've all had a good year so far, and also hope very much that you continue to have a good year throughout the rest of this school year."

There was a brief pause in the speech, the gleeks guessing it to be a result of the teacher nodding his head. "However," the teacher then said, "that is far from the only thing I wish to speak about right now. Right now, I wish to make a statement regarding the upcoming performance this morning and the students that, combined with my own efforts, are making this performance in question possible."

The gleeks heard their teacher take a deep breath, and then exhale. "I understand how much of a reputation this club has for drama. I also understand how much this club can become the designated punching bag amongst many people at this school. And I also understand how, as much respect as this club gains with every Nationals victory, that the entire vicious cycle is still all too capable of happening all over again every time brand-new members join this club."

There was another brief few seconds of pause. "But I'll say this, nonetheless," the teacher continued. "As much as this club may seem to not nearly get enough respect compared to when I was a student here, and as much of an uphill battle as the students and I seem to constantly have to fight every year to gain and maintain what little respect this club does earn, I still stand firm by my belief. As was said by my own teacher from glee club at this school, 'by its very definition, glee is about opening yourself to joy'. And the way I see it, no meaning could be any truer when it comes to this club, the inner songs that my students get to release from their hearts as members, and the dreams that my students get the chance to find and pursue over the course of their membership."

There was a final couple seconds of pause. "Thank you," said the teacher, evidently having finished a bow. "I hope you enjoy this morning's performance." Another modest applause rang through the air as the teacher evidently departed from the stage. As this happened, the gleeks all took deep breaths and similarly prepared themselves. They had a strong feeling what was coming next.

Sure enough, the very next thing they heard was Principal Figgins say, "And now, let us welcome on stage, our 1st place Nationals winning club with an entire roster's worth of brand new members, the New Directions!"

The curtains started to rise, and the gleeks smiled. They were ready. And as if to emphasize this, the band members, masterfully hidden as they were from audience view in the 'backstage area' alongside microphones and other tech allowing their work to be broadcast to the audience anyway without difficulty, started playing the appropriate music for the first song. These same band members, loyal as ever, had not had any problem in working to practice playing for the songs that the gleeks had chosen as replacements for Mr. Schuester's original ideas, and had similarly worked to keep the change a surprise.

As the music started playing, and the gleeks started letting off the necessary vocalizations they'd deemed as appropriate accompaniment, all the audience members took only seconds to react. The majority of them, surprisingly enough, seemed to recognize the song. Those who didn't mostly seemed only to raise their eyebrows in mild confusion. Those who did recognize the song, however, showed a considerably larger variety of reactions. A decent, but still comparatively small, sized portion of the audience were clearly excited and overjoyed. A much larger portion of the audience, however, showed signs of either pleasant surprise or polite interest instead. Even many of the less glee club friendly jocks nodded their heads in grudging respect as a result of their inner rock music fan. However, the single audience member who was considerably more shocked and caught off guard than anyone else was amongst the Schuester duo. Emma looked as she were feeling a mixture of confusion and interest. Will, on the other hand, looked quite clearly stunned the instant he heard the first few seconds of the combined instrumental and gleek vocalized beginning of the performance, his eyes widened in surprise. "What the?" he thought to himself upon recognizing the tune in question. "This . . . this wasn't on the list." But then the time for the actual singing came along, and the teacher hurriedly cast these thoughts away so as to properly pay attention to both the song and everything that would be unfolding around him over the course of it. The song in question went something like this:

 _(Daniel:)  
I have climbed highest mountains  
I have run through the fields  
Only to be with you  
Only to be with you  
(Zack with Daniel (Zack):)  
I have run, I have crawled  
I have scaled these city walls  
(These city walls)  
Only to be with you  
(Zack with Daniel and New Directions:)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found what I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found what I'm looking for (Grr)  
(Calvin:)  
I have kissed honey lips  
Felt the healing fingertips  
It burnt like fire  
This burning desire  
(Susan with Calvin (Susan):)  
I have spoke with the tongue of angels  
(I have held) (Calvin: I have held)  
Hand of a devil  
It was warm (in the night) (Calvin: In the night)  
(I was cold as a stone) (Calvin: Cold as a stone)  
(Zack and Daniel with Calvin and New Directions (Susan):)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) (and Susan: Haven't found)  
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (What I'm looking for)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) (and Susan: Haven't found)  
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (What I'm looking for)  
(Zack with Susan (Calvin):)  
I believe in the kingdom come (I believe, oh)  
Then all the colors will bleed into one (Bleed into one)  
Bleed into one (Ooh, yeah)  
(Zack (Susan):)  
But yes, I'm still running (Yes, I'm still running) (Calvin: Yes, I'm still running)  
(Daniel (Calvin):)  
You broke the bonds and you loosed the chains  
Carried the cross and, oh, my shame  
Oh, my shame (Ooh)  
You know I believe it (I believe it)  
(New Directions: You know I believe) (Mh, I believe it)  
(Zack with New Directions (Calvin):)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found (Still haven't found)  
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Yeah, yeah, hey)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) haven't found (No, no, yeah)  
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Oh, no, no, no)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Zack: Still) haven't found  
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Zack: What I'm looking for) (What I'm looking for)  
(New Directions (Zack and Susan):)  
But I still (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) (and Zack and Susan: Haven't found) (Calvin: Ooh)  
What I'm looking for (Hobbes: Grr) (Daniel: What I'm looking for) (Zack, Daniel, and Susan: Looking for)  
(Calvin, Zack, Daniel, and Susan with New Directions (Susan):  
(Calvin, Zack, and Daniel: But I still) (Hobbes: Aroo!) (But I still) haven't found (Calvin: Haven't found)  
What I'm looking for_

 _(Hobbes: Grr)_

All of 10 seconds passed following the end of the song before the entire audience burst into applause. Granted, at least ¾ of the applause sounded more modest, polite, and grudgingly respectful as opposed to genuinely joyous; but that was certainly better than not applauding at all. Even Mr. Schuester couldn't help but clap alongside his clearly happy wife, despite still feeling numb and stunned from the unexpected change his students had made to the setlist for the assembly. Then, when the applause finally died down and the music for a 2nd song started playing, Mr. Schuester once again found himself caught off guard upon recognizing yet another song that had most certainly not been amongst the 3 he'd originally picked. And, in his mind, even worse, this song wasn't even a song that originated from the same basic time period as the previous one, but rather a comparatively more 'modern' song. But despite his mentally reflexive rising misgivings, he mentally steeled himself up and directed his full attention to the performance that ensued; a performance that went something like this:

 _(Daniel:)_

 _All her life she has seen  
All the meanest side of me  
They took away the prophet's dream for a profit on the street  
Now she's stronger than you know  
A heart of steel starts to grow  
(Diana:)  
All his life he's been told  
He'll be nothing when he's old  
All the kicks and all the blows  
He won't ever let it show  
(Daniel and Diana:)  
'Cause he's stronger than you know  
A heart of steel starts to grow  
(New Directions:)  
When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)_

 _(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been working every day and night  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)_

 _(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(Calvin:)  
All the hurt, all the lies  
All the tears that they cry_

 _(Susan:)  
When the moment is just right  
You see fire in their eyes  
(Calvin and Susan:)  
'Cause he's stronger than you know  
A heart of steel starts to grow  
(New Directions:)  
When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)_

 _(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(New Directions:)  
When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been working every day and night  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)_

 _Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power  
(Zack:)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(Zack:)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(Zack and Calvin:)  
She's got lions in her heart  
A fire in her soul  
He's got a beast in his belly  
That's so hard to control  
'Cause they've taken too much hits  
Taking blow by blow  
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode  
She's got lions in her heart  
A fire in her soul  
He's got a beast in his belly  
That's so hard to control  
'Cause they've taken too much hits  
Taking blow by blow  
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode, explode, explode, explode  
(New Directions:)  
When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(New Directions:)  
When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been working every day and night  
That's how a superhero learns to fly  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(Zack:)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Daniel:)_

 _Oh, yeah...  
(Zack:)_

 _(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(Zack:)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Power, power, power, power, power)  
(Diana:)  
Ooh, yeah  
Whoa  
(Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber:)  
(Every day, every hour  
Turn the pain into power)  
(Raj:)  
When you've been fighting for it all your life  
You've been struggling to make things right  
That's how a superhero learns to fly_

This time, all of 5 seconds passed the ending of the song before the applause started. To the gleeks, however, it seemed impossibly longer thanks to the sheer amount of audience members (particularly those amongst the audience who were students) that were gaping in stunned shock seemingly straight at Raj, likely out of surprise at just how good of a singing voice the established McKinley High 'class comedian' had just now turned out to have.

The apparent eternity finally ended, and the applause came pouring out once more from the audience. This time, a solid half of the audience was genuinely joyous in their applause while the other half was applauding more out of politeness, modesty, and grudging respect. Even Mr. Schuester this time couldn't help but feel genuinely happier compared to earlier as he clapped. At this point, he'd come to realize that, perhaps maybe the fact that his students had now _twice_ deviated from his original ideas for the assembly's setlist wasn't truly such a bad thing in this particular case.

When the applause finally ended, the music for the third song started playing. And this time, Mr. Schue found himself still perfectly happy and smiling despite the fact that it was clear that the gleeks had yet again deviated from his original ideas. And considering how this song in question was arguably a creation of his own glee club, he'd have been a major hypocrite in some capacity or other to have felt anything else about the fact that it was currently the one that his current students had chosen as their 3rd song to take the place of his original ideas. The song in question went something like this:

 _(Diana:)  
Yeah, you may think that I'm a zero (Charlotte: Huh)  
(Diana with New Directions (Diana):)  
(But) hey, everyone you wanna be  
Probably started off like me  
(Diana:)  
You may say that I'm a freak show (Charlotte: I don't care)  
(Diana with New Directions (Diana):)  
(But) hey, give it just a little time  
I bet you're gonna change your mind  
(Diana:)  
All of the dirt you've been throwing my way  
It ain't so hard to take (Daniel and Diana: That's right)  
(Diana (with New Directions):)  
Cause (I know one day you'll be screaming my name)  
(Diana:)  
And I'll just look away (Daniel and Diana: That's right)  
(Diana with New Directions (Daniel and Diana):)  
Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth  
(So everyone can hear)  
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down  
(Baby, I don't care)  
Keep it up and soon enough you'll figure out  
You wanna be, you wanna be  
A loser like me_

 _(Hobbes: Aroo!)  
A loser like me  
(Daniel:)  
Push me up against the locker  
(Daniel with New Directions (Daniel):)  
(And) hey, all I do is shake it off  
I'll get you back when I'm your boss  
(Daniel:)  
I'm not thinking 'bout you haters  
(Daniel with New Directions (Daniel):)  
(Cause) hey, I could be a superstar  
I'll see you when you wash my car  
(Diana with New Directions:)  
All of the dirt you've been throwing my way  
(Diana:)  
It ain't so hard to take (Daniel and Diana: That's right)  
(Diana with New Directions (Diana):)  
(Cause) I know one day you'll be screaming my name  
(Diana:)  
And I'll just look away (Daniel and Diana: That's right)  
(Diana with New Directions (Daniel and Diana):)  
Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth  
(So everyone can hear)  
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down  
(Baby, I don't care)  
Keep it up and soon enough you'll figure out  
You wanna be, you wanna be  
A loser like me  
(Hobbes: Aroo!)_

 _A loser like me  
(Hobbes: Aroo!)  
Rachel:  
A loser like me  
(Naomi and Amber with New Directions (New Directions):)  
Hey, you, (oh) over there (oh)  
Keep the "L" (oh) up-up in the air (oh)  
Hey, you, (oh) over there (oh)  
Keep the "L" up, (oh) cause I don't care (oh)  
You can throw your sticks (oh)  
And you can throw your stones (oh)  
Like a rocket, (oh) just watch me go (oh)  
Yeah, (oh) l-o-s-e-r (oh)  
I can only be who I are  
(Diana:)  
Yeah!  
(New Directions:)  
Just go ahead and hate on me  
And run your mouth  
(Daniel and Diana:)  
So everyone can hear  
(Diana with New Directions (Daniel and Diana):)  
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down  
(Baby, I don't care)  
Keep it up, and, soon enough, you'll figure out  
You wanna be, you wanna be  
A loser like me  
(Susan:)  
Yeah! (Hobbes: Aroo!)  
(Diana with New Directions:)  
Go ahead, and hate on me and run your mouth  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions: So everyone can hear)  
Hit me with the worst you've got and knock me down  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions: Baby, I don't care)  
Keep it up, and, soon enough, you'll figure out (Susan: Oh)  
You wanna (and Susan: be), you wanna be  
(New Directions:)  
A loser like me (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Diana: A loser like me)  
A loser like me (Hobbes: Aroo!) (Rachel: A loser like me)  
A loser like me_

Literally 3 seconds passed the ending of the song's performance when the silence was once again split. But this time, applause was not the sound to immediately break the silence. Rather, the sound, or rather _sounds_ , that were the first to break the silence this time turned out to be Calvin unleashing a flawlessly realistic lion-like roar at the top of his lungs while Hobbes simultaneously emitted an equally flawlessly realistic and similarly loud wolf-like howl.

In that instant, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone in the gym, performers and audience members alike, stared at Calvin and Hobbes. The duo in question, as it so happened, were both smiling and happy, clearly not seeing anything wrong with what had just happened and feeling proud of themselves for both the noises they'd just made and the performances they'd done before unleashing said noises.

Then, after an apparent eternity, right as Calvin and Hobbes had found themselves raising their eyebrows and giving off slightly confused frowns, the silence was finally broken with raucous applause. This time, in an exact inverse of the applause following the first song, ¾ of the audience were genuinely joyful and happy in their applause while a solid ¼ was giving a more modest, polite, and grudgingly respectful applause. Even Sue Sylvester found herself giving a modest applause, while also shaking her head side to side with a bemused look on her face. But Mr. Schuester, however, was most definitely not feeling as numb as he'd been when applauding for the 1st song of the assembly. Right now, he was so happy for his students as he genuinely applauded and cheered for them that he didn't even care anymore how very blatantly they'd deviated from his originally planned setlist. In his mind, his current students had done so well at this assembly's performance, and with some actually perfectly good choices of songs for that matter, that it just didn't matter anymore that they hadn't performed the songs he'd originally intended.

 **And just like that, this chapter is done! I hope you all read and enjoyed it, and that you leave plenty of reviews. Speaking of which, remember, as per usual, this chapter requires a MINIMUM of ONE review by the time I have finished writing the next chapter of this story in order for me to allow that chapter to be posted. And speaking of the next chapter, that chapter just so happens to be what will be the LAST chapter of this story. So yeah, hope you've all enjoyed the ride so far. And that in mind, again, hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave plenty of feedback.**

 **Songs Used:**

 **I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2 - Performed by the New Directions**

 **Superheroes - The Script - Performed by the New Directions**

 **Loser Like Me - Cast of Glee - Performed by the New Directions**

 **Coming up next: After a few final details to wrap things up, this entry in the GWAFU comes to an end.**


	27. Goodbye Old Times, Hello New Age

**Hoowee! Dear God I took WAY too long! I apologize right away for the fiendishly long wait. I recently moved back to the United States and I had so much craziness to deal with in settling back in and all (among other things). Nevertheless, I have FINALLY gotten the final chapter of this story finished and ready for you all to read, review, and enjoy! In this chapter, loose ends are tied up to nicely bring this story to a sad, but necessary, end, while at the same time very slightly calling forward to what happens later in this series' timeline during the events of the main GWAF story. Sound like a worthy send off for this installment of the GWAFU? I certainly hope so! That being said, here's to hoping you all read, review, and enjoy this final chapter for this current installment of the GWAFU!**

 **A/N: But first, I shall remind you one last time (for this story anyway) that I do not own Glee, or any related elements and songs.**

 **Chapter 27:**

 **Goodbye Old Times, Hello New Age**

"We're in trouble. Aren't we?"

Mr. Schuester mentally chuckled upon hearing Calvin ask this question. "Oh, Calvin," he thought to himself. "Don't ever change." He then shook his head to get his mind back in gear. Now was not the time to get distracted.

He looked directly at all his students. "Under other circumstances," he began, "yes, you probably would be in trouble right now."

The gleeks all thought to themselves, and then they all raised their eyebrows upon realizing exactly what their teacher had said.

"So, under these particular circumstances, we are not in trouble," said Daniel. Mr. Schuester nodded his head up and down to indicate that Daniel was correct. "Why?" the younger boy asked.

Mr. Schuester smiled, and then gestured his hand towards his students. "Well before I answer that, why don't you tell me why you picked the songs you chose." He lifted his finger as if to forestall an argument. "No," he then said, "don't tell me why you chose to replace the songs I picked; I think that answer got made quite clear this Monday." He shook his head. "No, I want to know why, out of all the songs you very likely _could_ have picked as replacements, you chose the ones you ended up singing today."

The gleeks all thought to themselves, and then looked each other in the eyes, and then eventually turned their heads, one by one, to face their teacher.

However, right as Diana was about to speak, Mr. Schuester raised his finger as if to say 'hold it,' a slight wince on his face as he clearly realized something else he needed to say.

"Sorry," the teacher immediately said. "But there's one more thing I'd best ask before you answer that question." He gestured to indicate both Diana and Susan. "I noticed that you two arrived here in the choir room about 8 minutes after Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes," he then said. "And for that matter, there was still about 2 minutes before this current session began by the time you finally arrived." He paused for a few seconds, just to make sure that both of the club's current female leads had fully gotten what he said. "You're not in trouble," he then said. "But I'm just wondering, is there any particular reason you took so long?"

Diana and Susan looked each other in the eyes, seemingly considering what to say. Then they turned their heads to face Mr. Schuester once more, a half proud and half sheepish look on both of their faces. "Oh, nothing too serious," said Diana.

"Yeah," Susan agreed, a slight nervous chuckle escaping her lips. "We just . . . um . . . had a couple of loose ends to tie up in the gym."

Upon hearing this, Daniel, Calvin, and Hobbes raised their eyebrows in confusion. Then, after about a minute, comprehension finally dawned on them. Zack had a similar reaction, as did the majority of the other gleeks. Charlotte, however, instantly found her eyes widening and the rest of her face similarly conveying her newfound shock as she _very_ swiftly realized just what Susan and Diana were very likely referring to. Then her shocked face morphed into a somewhat nervous one, and she directed a side glance towards the choir room door from the corner of her eyes as she found herself remembering that Silena and Ashley had been noticeably absent today at the cheerio practice session to occur directly before this current glee club session.

"I should probably drop by Coach Sylvester's office and inform her to go searching through the gym sports supply closet after glee club finishes for today," she thought to herself. Then she thought to herself some more. "Or better yet, maybe I should go ahead and just look through them myself immediately after this session's over and worry about informing Coach Sylvester later."

For a brief moment, Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrow. Then he thought to himself, shrugged, and nodded his head. "Maybe it's better I just not ask this time," he thought to himself. "If you say so," he then said aloud. He cleared his throat. "Alright, sorry about that." He nodded his head a 2nd time. "Ok, _now_ you can answer my previous question."

The gleeks all nodded, and Diana cleared her throat.

"Well," Diana began, "as much as we weren't entirely sold on the time period in which your original choices were made, we didn't want to have _all_ of our replacement songs be strictly contemporary for our age. We wanted to have at least one comparatively 'old' song amongst our new playlist as . . . well . . . compensation, you know?"

"What she said," said Daniel. He nodded his head. "Oddly enough, it actually took us a heck of a lot longer for us to decide on just which 'old' song we'd use than it did to decide on the two more contemporary songs we'd be singing after that one." He lifted his finger. "But then I remembered one particular song that I thought would be especially appropriate due to its significance as Finn Hudson's reportedly #1 favorite song of all time, and so we decided upon that one . . . after putting it to a vote first."

Calvin nodded. "Like Diana said," he began, "the other two songs were comparatively easier to decide upon." He nodded his head. "For one, we all agreed. . ." He narrowed his eyes, and then directed a slight side glance towards the area directly behind him . . . where Charlotte, naturally, was seated. "Surprisingly enough," he continued. He directed his full gaze back to Mr. Schuester, eyes now no longer narrowed. "Anyway, point is, we all agreed that, at the very least, the 2nd one should perhaps be something inspiring. I mean, most songs of that kind of nature tend to get a positive response. Then we thought about considering Superheroes by the Script. After all, it sounds plenty inspiring, and is basically about superheroes, which, for the most part, just about everybody likes."

Susan, at this point, now felt that Calvin was starting to get at risk of taking a little too long and going off on tangents. "To make a long story short," she broke in, "Superheroes seemed to be just the right song, and we rolled with it."

"Yeah," Calvin agreed, a sheepish look now coming on his face. "What she said."

As one, Calvin, Susan, Hobbes, and the rest of the gleeks all looked back at Daniel and Diana. Clearly, they all believed it would be the two primary leads' job to finish the explanation. The two primary leads, thankfully, were quite happy to oblige. "And the last song," Diana began. "Well . . . honestly, not only did we think it would be especially conducive to our image for us to sing a song that this glee club itself is solely responsible for creating, but that song in question?" She nodded her head up and down. "It might as well be our own personal anthem."

"She's right," said Daniel. He nodded his head. "Us? And everyone else who's ever been in this club before us? This song described us all so perfectly. Every year, this club always goes through the same basic cycle. Constantly getting put down. Never getting treated with proper respect for more than a couple weeks at most. Always having so much adversity and obstacles to face. And, in the end, _still_ rising above it all? Like I said, that describes us and this entire club in general in a nutshell."

Diana nodded her own head in agreement. "All in all," she then said, "what better song for us to sing to show our own pride as New Directioneers?"

The rest of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, nodded their heads in agreement immediately after Diana said this. Even Charlotte, though she did so noticeably more reluctantly compared to the rest.

Mr. Schuester nodded, cleared his throat, and directed his full attention towards all 13 of his students. "And that," he began, "is what I can now happily call additional confirmation to the conclusion I reached over the course of the assembly today."

The teacher turned around and made his way towards the white board, his students all raising their eyebrows in half confusion and half anticipation. "And to be fair," the teacher continued seconds before any of the gleeks could muster up the willpower to ask him what he meant, "this wasn't so much a case of me reaching a completely brand new conclusion as it was a case of me getting a much needed reminder of something I've already learned and received multiple reminders of before."

Mr. Schuester reached the white board, picked up a sharpie, and started writing. "You see, what I wasn't entirely as willing to admit as I could have been this Monday, but now realize all too clearly, is how, as much as I wanted to play things safe this week, I may have ended up playing things a little _too_ safe, especially as far as song selection for the assembly setlist was concerned."

The gleeks all mumbled in agreement, much to Mr. Schuester's amusement.

"However," the teacher continued, "as often as things tended to end in controversy or outcry in the past whenever I managed, unwittingly or otherwise, to leave the setlists and other important matters for assemblies in the hands of my students in this club, I tend to forget how my students are not incapable of picking songs and ideas that aren't so likely to end in such a way. In fact, it was Rachel Berry herself who suggested that we have "West Side Story" be the school musical back in the 2011-2012 school year so as to avoid running the heightened risk of controversy that was narrowly avoided in the two school years to occur directly before that year."

He paused in his writing and turned around to face his students once more. "Let me elaborate on one other little detail that came into play regarding the 1st three controversies that occurred at assemblies involving this club." He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "As much as I may have unwittingly helped in some ways over the course of past incidents, one other important factor, especially as far as the 1st three assembly controversies go, was that many of the incidents were also just as much a result of pandering."

He lifted one of his fingers. "Incident #1; now, to be fair, this was during the club's first year of existence as the New Directions. Nonetheless, it was still a major case. And while I almost certainly only worsened the situation through my insistence at the time of this club's roster from those days performing mostly songs I enjoyed from the disco era, what sealed the deal for the songs they chose to perform instead causing the parental outcry they caused was arguably a case of my students choosing to pander to a specific popular trend amongst this school's student body. The trend in question, songs involving sex, did prove pleasing to the audience, it also induced rampant concerns amongst parents about the potential for their kids at this school being unwittingly encouraged to behave recklessly and in similarly unsavory or generally unacceptable ways as far as sexual matters were concerned."

He lifted a 2nd finger. "Incident #2; the very next year. At around that time, while I was adamant on a very specific category of music for that week's assignment and assembly, several students amongst this club's roster back then, as well as amongst this entire school's student body in general, had become part of a large following in a rising popularity at the time in music by Britney Spears. And eventually, with more than a little help from some dental incidents and other elements that I'd best not go into that much detail on right now, I myself ended up agreeing to allow myself _and_ the club's membership roster at the time to blatantly pander to this group. And while, in the end, the main controversy of _that_ incident was more a case of the abrupt fire alarm induced cancellation that Coach Sylvester brought upon that assembly that year, the fact that I had blatantly encouraged this pandering in the first place was also a small matter of contention back then."

He lifted a 3rd finger, his face now taking on a noticeably more serious and stern look. "Incident #3; two years later. While this incident didn't involve pandering to a popular trend, it nonetheless involved pandering." He shook his head side to side with his eyes closed, clearly still far from happy about the memory of this incident. "Back then, Brittany Pierce was still a student in this club and at McKinley High. And at the time, she was also in a bad place in her life. And over the course of efforts by the other students at the time to try to cheer her up, they ended up going more than a little _too_ far in those efforts." He took a deep breath, and then let out a heavy exhale. "And the scandal that resulted from _that_ ," he then said, "is something that I _still_ thank my lucky stars never ended up getting spread to the ears of the national show choir board." He lifted his head, eyes still closed, and still taking a series of deep breaths.

As this happened, the gleeks all directed each other awkward looks. As vague as their teacher was currently being about the incident he'd just described, they could tell all too easily how he was currently thinking of what they'd heard described as the infamous New Directions lip syncing debacle.

Mr. Schuester finally regained his composure. "The assembly incidents that have followed that one, and any factors that may or may not have played a role in their occurrence, are a matter for another discussion." He lifted his finger once more. "However, what _is_ important right now is how, for this assembly, the songs that were chosen, and as deliberate replacements for what was originally planned for the setlist, were songs that were chosen out of any sense of pandering. These were all songs that you, not anyone else, _you_ , genuinely and selflessly thought would be the best." He turned around and resumed his earlier writing. "And all this has thoroughly reminded me of something that I really wish I didn't have to keep getting reminders about every now and then."

He placed the sharpie back where it had originally been, turned around to face his students, and stepped aside. Thus, he revealed the word 'Mutuality' written in large black sharpie print right there on the white board. He pointed at the word. "This," the teacher began, "is what, in an ideal setting, should always be present between me and my students."

Mr. Schuester lifted the very finger that he'd been pointing at 'mutuality'. "And some; emphasis on _some_ ; of the worst cases of drama in this club have resulted from moments in which this trait has been sorely lacking." The teacher nodded his head. "As I'm sure everyone here can agree, everyone has secrets. And this club has had no shortage of times where one or more people involved have kept one secret, earthshaking or otherwise, to themselves. But for the sake of this current discussion, the moments of lacking in mutuality that shall receive the most focus are the ones involving making decisions for setlists, assignments, and individual songs."

He took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "As uptight and overly set in my ways as you may have thought I was earlier this week, it can be argued that, in the earlier years of the New Directions' existence, I was actually even more so." He nodded his head. "Granted, while my students and I were ultimately able to come to agreements and keep things peaceful and happy between us over the course of this club's first year of existence as the New Directions, it wasn't until the 1st time we met and worked with Holly Holiday during this club's 2nd year of existence that I honestly started to put more effort into allowing for more comparative equality between us and for my students to have more of a say in the decision making compared to my prior, and somewhat authoritarian, approach to the matter."

He took another deep breath, and then exhaled. "And over the years," he continued. "I have only continued to try my absolute best to continue to put that same higher amount of effort into ensuring that such equality remains between me and my students. Now, of course, as is to be expected, fluctuations have inevitably occurred, and each side has made a blunder and required a reminder more than once. Sometimes, like today for example, we've been lucky, and no major negative consequences have unfolded. Other times, like was the case with multiple other assemblies and similar incidents, things have gone horribly wrong.

"And as much as I appreciate the reminder you gave me at today's assembly," the teacher continued, "it is nonetheless entirely possible that I'll still need to receive similar reminders all over again multiple times in the future." He pointed back at where he'd written 'mutuality'. "But regardless of how necessary it becomes for reminders on either side of this equation, the important thing is that we all work our hardest to keep the period in between the reminders lasting as long as we possibly can, and that we also similarly do our best to fulfill our goals for this club, our dreams, and everything else that matters." He nodded his head. "And to that end, I apologize for my original song choices."

The gleeks all thought to themselves, and then nodded, smiles on their faces. "So, we're off the hook?" Daniel asked, more out of formality then any genuine worry.

"Yes," the teacher responded. He lifted his finger. "But as lucky as we got today, and as sorry as I am for the setlist that made you feel your actions were necessary, I still strongly advice that you try your best not to allow any other incidents like this happen again. Like I said, we got lucky this time. But next time, assuming there is one, things might not end so well."

"Understood," the gleeks all said at once, Hobbes letting off a low snarl to indicate his own acknowledgement of what the teacher had said.

"Excellent," said Mr. Schuester. He clapped his hands together once. "Alright then, all that being said, it's time for us to go over other important bits of business for this month."

The gleeks, plus Hobbes, all nodded, their attention clearly fully on the teacher and whatever it was he now deemed necessary to tell them.

. . . . .

The four leads, plus Zack and Hobbes, couldn't help but feel both relieved and tired as they stood around in one of the McKinley High hallways waiting for the rest of the gleeks to join up with them. As happy as they were that things had unfolded nicely over the course of the assembly and the after-school glee club session, they were also now feeling somewhat tired and ready to go home. But even so, they were not unwilling to stay where they currently were and wait for the rest of their New Directions peers to join up with them.

Daniel turned his head to face Calvin, taking note once more of how Calvin's eyes seemed to be half closed. "Good day?" he then asked.

The autistic boy let a small smile come on his face. "You could say that," he responded. He nodded his head, and then turned to face Susan. "It certainly turned out better than it could have been; especially as far as that assembly is concerned."

"I can certainly agree with you there," said Susan. She nodded her head, her eyes closed as she sighed in contentment. Then she opened her eyes and directed a slightly concerned look towards him. "Still, did you and Hobbes _really_ have to do your usual routine after the final number?"

Calvin chuckled nervously, a sheepish half grin on his face as he rubbed his hand across his hair. "Um yeah, that," he stated. "Force of habit. Sorry."

Hobbes, meanwhile, barked twice, and then started happily panting, seemingly quite unrepentant of what Susan had just brought up.

"It's fine Calvin," Susan said, clearly to reassure her autistic friend. "Really, it is. But nonetheless. . ."

She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Can you promise to at least _try_ to not let that happen at any other important glee club performances? Or at the very least, try not to do that at competitions? I mean, yes, we got lucky at the assembly today, but audiences at events like Regionals or Nationals, and especially judges, may not be quite so receptive."

"I can try," Calvin said. He nodded his head. "But other than that, I can't really promise anything."

Daniel placed his hand on the autistic boy's shoulder. "Don't worry," said the dark-haired boy. "No need to put too much pressure on yourself. Whatever happens in the future, I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

"Yeah," said Diana. "What he said."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," said Zack.

All five of the gleeks present promptly chuckled.

"Having a good time, are we?"

The five juniors turned their heads and smiled at the sight of four now very familiar sophomores. "Nice of you to drop by," said Daniel.

Diana nodded her head in agreement, and then placed her hands on her hips. "Thought we'd stick around and wait for you," she then said.

"So I guessed," said Darren.

The four sophomores promptly chuckled in unison upon hearing Darren say this, while Hobbes and the five juniors rolled their eyes.

"In all seriousness though," Darren then said, nodding his head in understanding. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Zack, smile already back on his face.

"Good week?" Daniel asked.

The four sophomores nodded their heads.

"You bet," said Dunlap.

"How's progress on your goals for the year?"

Upon hearing this question, the other gleeks all directed confused looks at Calvin.

The autistic gestured at the four sophomores. "Last Monday," he explained. "You said that you wished to, over the course of this school year and your time in this club, increase your own sense of camaraderie amongst yourselves, make new friends out of the rest of us in this club, _and_ sort out a few of your personal issues from previous years." He nodded his head. "I'd just like to know if you've made any significant progress on those goals so far."

The four sophomores all gave off a silent 'oh' in unison upon hearing Calvin's explanation, and they then thought to themselves.

"Well," said Dunlap. "I'll admit, last week certainly could have gone better."

"You got that right," said Darren, his yellow contacted eyes directing a meaningful sidelong glare at Zack. The black boy chuckled nervously, and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face.

Amber placed her hand on Darren's shoulder, shaking her head side to side. "But other than _that_ ," she then said before looking at the 5 juniors and single German Shepherd, "yes, I'd say we've been doing quite well so far."

"Yeah," said Naomi. She nodded her head with her eyes closed. "What she said," Naomi continued, successfully pointing in Amber's direction.

And indeed, things were going well for the four sophomores at this moment in time. Granted, yes, they would have quite preferred for there to have been a fair amount less drama to befall them the previous week, and Zack had most definitely been _zero_ help in that regard. However, as of this moment, things had gotten undeniably better compared to the previous week. And in the time that had unfolded, especially after the crack house incident, they had in fact made considerable progress in achieving the goals Calvin had just now brought up. Not only was the existing friendship between the four of them all the stronger, but they had also managed to form some acquaintanceships with multiple older members of the glee club they'd joined that they were certain would develop into strong friendships in their own right. Even the guy who'd arguably helped make things over dramatic the previous week had, unexpectedly enough, ended up becoming a decent enough acquaintance to them as well. And they had every right to believe that, with them all well on the way to getting some fantastic new friends in these multiple older peers from the glee club, they would have somewhat easier times with allowing Naomi and Amber in particular to finally get a full move on away from the terrible horrors that had befallen them the previous year. All in all, things seemed to be looking up for the four sophomores.

"I see you guys are all having a good week."

The 9 students gathered in the area turned their heads in time to see none other than a happily smiling Cody, Bailey, and Raj walking up towards them.

"You to, huh?" Calvin asked.

Bailey chuckled, and placed her hands on her hips. "You can say that again. Sure, last week could have gone down better, but I daresay my boys and I are having a good week this week so far." She positioned her eyes as if giving a sidelong glance at Cody and Raj from behind her. "Isn't that right?"

Cody and Raj seemed to think to themselves, and then they both nodded.

"Yep," said Raj.

"Sure thing," said Cody.

"That's what I like," said Bailey. She nodded her head and directed her gaze fully back towards the other 9 gleeks in front of her. "Heck, I'd say that, if things continue going this smoothly for the rest of the year, I'm sure the three of us will have our respective goals mentioned last week fulfilled and our drama between us over and done with in no time." She turned around to directly face Raj and Cody. "Don't you think so?"

This time, Cody and Raj had a noticeable pause between Bailey's asking that question and their eventual response. As the silence seemed to drag on with Cody and Raj having awkward looks on their faces as they thought to themselves, their 9 peers gathered in front of them and Bailey all looked each other in the eyes awkwardly. Even Bailey found herself gradually losing her smile and looking worried.

Eventually, with slightly gritted teeth, the two Asian boys both managed to say in unison, "Yes, I suppose so." And no sooner had they said this when they, again in unison, gave each other a sidelong glare, Cody with his left eye and Raj with his right eye. And in their eyes was a clear 'This isn't over' look.

Bailey let a sheepish smile come on her face, all while silently thinking, "This will definitely be longer and harder than I thought." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled, calming herself down before she could even begin to get overwhelmed. "But hey," she thought to herself. "We've still got a whole school year. I'm sure that will be a decent amount of time for the three of us to resolve this issue. And besides, with all the others in this club to join us as our friends, they could probably be more than a little helpful at solving this dilemma. Yes, that's right. That oughta work." She closed her eyes and nodded her head. "Yep," she thought to herself. "Exactly that easy."

At the sound of footsteps walking up to them from behind the four sophomores, the 12 gleeks and single dog all turned around in time to see none other than Charlotte borderline stomping her way over to the group with her fists clenched and a tense pokerfaced look on her face. After about one or two minutes of her walking in this fashion towards them, she came to a firm stop right in front of Diana and Susan, pokerfaced glare still on her face and fists still clenched. For what seemed like an eternity, her 12 fellow gleeks and the single dog with them stared at her in half confusion and half nervousness as they wondered just what she now had on her mind to have her behaving the way she currently was.

Then, when the apparent eternity finally ended, the head cheerio took a deep breath, exhaled, and then pointed at Susan and Diana with her glare now slightly less pokerfaced then before. "You two," she began, "are _so_ lucky I was able to convince Silena and Ashley not to try to gang up on you two and have you beaten up this afternoon after that stunt you pulled on them before the after-school glee club session today."

Diana promptly had a sheepish smile come on her face, and she rubbed the back of her head with a nervous chuckle. Susan, on the other hand, had an obviously smug grin come on her face, and she folded her arms across her chest. "I take it you found where Diana and I hid them?"

Charlotte gritted her teeth, directed her pointing finger more directly at Susan, and snarled, "Oh yes, yes I did. And dear God you and Diana made it a real chore for me to get them free." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Judging by how tight the knots you made were, I have a strong feeling that at least one of your parents was a scout." She lifted a finger. "And the fact that you had _athletic_ tape gagging them underneath the single strips of black duct tape you _also_ gagged them with was a _very_ dirty move. I had to have Coach Sylvester put her departure from here on hold so she could help me safely remove it."

Diana slightly grimaced, and rubbed her hand across the back of her head, a sheepish 'guilty as charged' half wince and half smile on her face. Most of the other gleeks whistled silently and shook their heads side to side. Calvin, meanwhile, chuckled, and said "That's what I'm talking about." Susan also chuckled, a clear unrepentant look of smug satisfaction on her own face. And she and Calvin promptly gave each other a high-five after Calvin made his comment. Hobbes even let a canine smirk of his own come onto his furry face alongside a toothy grin.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, and folded her arms across her chest. "Like I said, be glad that I'm feeling merciful this week. Or Silena and Ashley would have been making you feel _so_ very sorry by now."

Diana nodded in understanding, a still slightly nervous look on her face despite her equally present happiness. She had to elbow Susan in the side to get the dark-haired girl to indicate her own (somewhat reluctant) understanding.

"Good," said Charlotte. "She turned around so that her back was facing the rest of the gleeks. "Now let's get out of here. The sooner I get to no longer share immediate breathing space with you today, the better."

The other gleeks, Hobbes included, all rolled their eyes, and waited until Charlotte had taken a full 10 steps ahead of them before they started following her down the path that would ultimately lead to the McKinley High parking lot.

However, 13 minutes later, they all managed to turn down and start heading through one of the last remaining hallways in their path, only to come to a stunned halt when all 13 of the gleeks (minus Hobbes) found themselves getting splashed in the face with what could instantly be identified as slushy material.

The 13 gleeks had just enough time to fully realize what had just happened, and Hobbes enough time to move his head side to side in complete confusion for a while, before multiple familiar jock voices in front of them stated in unison, "Surprise!"

The eyes of the gleeks, and Hobbes, promptly narrowed despite the presence of the slushy facials. Charlotte, in particular, seemed especially pissed as she proceeded to angrily clench her fists and grit her teeth as well as narrow her eyes.

The jocks who'd clearly been responsible for the slushy facials all chuckled. Then, the gleeks all heard Becket say, "You did good. I'll grudgingly admit that. Your performances this morning? Especially the one of that rock song? Actually bearable." There was a brief pause, presumably a result of Becket pausing to nod his head. "However," he then stated, "you all are living in dream world if you think that that's going to be enough for you to have our respect earned just yet . . . if ever."

It took all the gleeks' willpower not to snarl at the more negative aspects of the hockey captain's comments, while they also simultaneously grudgingly accepted the comparatively more positive details sandwiched between the negativity. Hobbes, meanwhile, grudgingly snarled, and directed a half confused and half angry look towards his master as if asking, "Can I kill them now?"

"Like I said," Becket continued. "You've earned some points today. But we sure as Hell ain't gonna make things easy for you lot. Consider this a warning for what you can expect over the course of this year. The last people to be in your position? They may have earned their well worked for respect from this school, but they ain't here at this school anymore. And you lot? Like everyone's made clear, this is all of ya'll's first year as members of this wish-wash fest. You want our respect? You'd gotta earn it. And if it takes literal blood and sweat? So be it."

After a final brief pause, with only Hobbes being able to adequately see him and the other jocks flash the 'looser L' gesture at them all, Becket ended his speech to the gleeks with a, "Later losers."

As one, the jocks all chuckled, gave each other high-fives, and departed from the area, leaving the slushied gleeks and silently fuming German shepherd standing where they'd been upon initial slushy facial. After what seemed far longer an amount of time then what actually passed, the gleeks finally managed to sigh in unison and shake their heads.

"We really have some _big_ shoes to fill," Raj said in an exhausted tone.

"Yes," Cody said in a resigned tone of voice. "Yes, we do."

"Too true," Bailey grumbled. "Too true."

Calvin sighed, and rubbed his eyes. "All these years of the New Directions being in existence. I know what Mr. Schuester said last week about this inevitability. But honestly, is it too much to ask for a previous generation of New Directioneers' well earned respect carry over to the next such generation at least once?"

"You can say that again Calvin," Susan agreed. She sighed, and shook her head side to side. "Honestly, counting the 13 of us, this club has had at least 12 generations of students based upon lead duos. You'd honestly think that, after 11 entire respect-worthy generations of students, this club wouldn't need to be pulling teeth and fighting with blood, sweat, and tears to have this school's respect anymore!" She lifted her hands, her slushied face turned upwards to face the ceiling at the same time. "Seriously!" she yelled. "Can this club _never_ get a break from all this!?"

Zack sighed. "I hear you girl," he then said. He sighed. "Like you said, as the 12th generation in a row, we should have this school's respect earned a hundred times over. But _no_. Every previous generation of New Directioneers just _has_ to be a tough act to follow for all new blood generations such as ourselves." He shook his head side to side. "The sheer injustice of this. I swear."

The other gleeks, plus Hobbes, all grumbled and nodded their heads in agreement. That is, except for Daniel and Diana.

"You are certainly correct," said Diana. She nodded her head, and then turned around to face all her fellow gleeks apart from Daniel and herself. "All of you are. It really isn't fair."

"No, it is not," Daniel agreed. He to turned around to face his fellow gleeks. "And yes, it truly would be easier if we were to automatically inherit the same respect as any previous generation before us." He nodded his head with his eyes closed, and then opened his eyes back up. "But the plain and simple truth? We aren't any previous generation of New Directions."

For a brief moment, the rest of the gleeks, plus Hobbes, all looked at each other in confusion. Then they all looked over at Daniel and Diana, eyebrows raised in confusion and suspicion.

"He's right you know," said Diana. She nodded her head. "Last time Daniel and I checked, our names are Daniel Taymor and Diana Eberhart; not Riley Hansford and Tess Sewicky. And for that matter, we're certainly not Leon Talbot and Yolanda Milner, or Shawn Forbes and Gretchen Temple, or Jackson Siskel and Stephanie Ebert."

"Correct," Daniel chimed in. "And neither are we Ashton Swan and Dawn Cullen, or Ryder Lynn and Marley Rose. And as much as Diana and I may wish for it every now and then, we sure as Hell aren't Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry either."

"No you are not," Calvin agreed.

"Here, here," said Susan.

Hobbes growled lightly, and nodded his head up and down as if in agreement with his master and Susan.

The other gleeks (apart from Charlotte) had a brief chuckle at this. Even Diana and Daniel smiled at this development.

"In all seriousness though," Diana then said, clearly now wishing to get back on topic. "We're not any previous generation of New Directioneers. And we simply can't rely on piggybacking on their respect."

The other gleeks grumbled and nodded their heads in grudging acceptance; except for Charlotte, who surreptitiously let a smirk come on her face at the sight of Daniel nodding his own head in agreement. "Indeed, we are not," she thought to herself. "And you and I both know what we _really_ are Danny boy."

"What we are, however," said Daniel.

Charlotte let her smirk expand into a wolf-like grin as the other gleeks all directed much less smug looks of interest towards the club's current male lead.

"Is a completely different generation of New Directioneers! 100% brand new, 100% fresh, 100% our own! Isn't that right?"

"Yeah!" the other gleeks all shouted; except for Charlotte, her smug grin now a disappointed frown.

"Should have known he'd still be naïve about this matter at this point," she thought bitterly to herself, while simultaneously letting off a flat, "Yay," so as to avoid falling under the gleeks' suspicion.

"We shouldn't have to wish ourselves to be carbon copies of our predecessors," said Diana, her green eyes agleam underneath what remained of her slushy facial. She lifted both her hands as if to silently say 'behold'. "Like Daniel just said, we're all brand new to this club. We should take this as the opportunity that it is; to do our own thing! To follow our own path! To make this our own age! Isn't that right?"

"Yeah," came the resounding response from her fellow gleeks.

"That's the spirit," said Daniel. He lifted his own hands as if making a victory gesture. "And if we have to fight with blood, sweat, and tears to ensure we achieve the same level of respect as all our predecessors, then so be it!"

"Yeah!" yelled the other gleeks.

"Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!" Hobbes barked in agreement.

"That's what I'm talking about," said Diana.

She and Daniel turned around to face ahead once more, Daniel pointing his finger forward in the process. "Goodbye old times, hello new age," Daniel yelled.

"Yeah," all the gleeks (with the natural exception of Charlotte) shouted as they proceeded as one to resume their trek down the hall, with Charlotte very noticeably slowly following and falling behind with her head and shoulders slumped. But if any of the other gleeks, or Hobbes, happened to notice this, they showed no sign of it, let alone of even caring about that matter. At that moment, the sense of camaraderie they now felt, strong yet still needing further development as it was, was already much too strong for them to fall back into their earlier glum mood from the slushy facials.

In fact, as it so happened, all the gleeks (again, apart from Charlotte) already had the perfect song in mind for them to potentially sing the very next day to showcase their current happiness. What they didn't know at that moment, of course, was how Mr. Schuester would indeed say yes to this very song and performance idea the very next day. And when the time came that day, the performance in question, complete with appropriate music, outfits, and dancing (plus Calvin imitating a t-rex), would go something like this:

(Scene Break: McKinley High Auditorium, very next day)

 _Daniel (and Diana):  
You say yes  
I say no  
(You say stop)  
(I say go, go, go!)  
(Oh no!)  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions):  
You say goodbye and I say hello  
Hello, hello!  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello  
Hello, hello!  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello  
(Daniel and Diana (with New Directions)):  
I say high  
You say low  
You say why and I say (I don't know!)  
Oh no!  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions (New Directions)):  
You say goodbye and I say hello  
(Hello) Hello, hello! (Hello)  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Goodbye)  
(Hello) Hello, hello! (Hello)  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Goodbye)  
(Daniel (with Diana)):  
Why, why, why, why, why, why (do you say goodbye, goodbye?)  
(Daniel, Susan, and Diana):  
Oh no!  
(Daniel with New Directions):  
You say goodbye  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions (New Directions)):  
And I say hello (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)  
Hello, hello (Hello, goodbye!)  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)  
Hello, hello (Hello, goodbye!)  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello  
(Daniel (New Directions)):  
You say yes (I say yes)  
I say no (But I may mean no)  
(Daniel and Diana (New Directions)):  
You say stop (I can stay)  
And I say go, go, go (Till it's time to go!)  
Oh no!  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions (New Directions)):  
You say goodbye and I say hello (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)  
Hello, hello  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Hello, goodbye!)  
(Hello) Hello, hello (Hello) (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!) (Rachel: Hello!)  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Hello, goodbye!)  
(Hello) Hello, hello (Hello) (Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye!)  
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello (Oh, oh)  
(Daniel and Diana):  
Hello! (New Directions: Oh, oh)  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions):  
Hello...  
(Susan):  
Oh, oh, oh, oh!  
(Diana with Daniel and New Directions (Susan)):  
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la!  
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Hey, hey, hey-lo-la!)  
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Diana: Hey-lo-laaaa!)  
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Hey-la!) (Diana: Hey, hey, yeah!)  
(Diana with Daniel (New Directions)):  
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (I say hello! Hello, hello!)  
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello) (Susan: Say hello!)  
Hey-la! Hey, hey, hey-lo-la! (Hello, hello! I don't know why you say goodbye)  
(Daniel and Diana with New Directions):  
I say hello (New Directions: Oh, oh)  
(Daniel and Diana):  
Hello (New Directions: Oh, oh)  
Hello..._

After what seemed like an eternity with the New Directions members staying frozen in their positions from the song's end, the silence in the air was finally broken with the sound of Mr. Schuester happily clapping from his seat in the front row of the auditorium chairs, a smile on his face. And he couldn't have felt happier then he was at that moment. After all, for starters, his current students of the New Directions had just now managed once again to put on a truly magnificent performance.

But the amazingness of their performance was most certainly not the only reason he felt so happy right now. In fact, he also felt happy because of just how much they were now starting to remind him in more ways than one of the very first 12 students he'd ever had in the glee club under his leadership. For one, that very group had performed the very same song that this current group of students had just finished once before, though arguably under somewhat less pleasant circumstances. Secondly, all 13 of the students were dressed exactly the same way that his first 12 students had been during their own performance of this very song. However, Diana and Daniel had managed to take the reminder up to 11 in how they'd positioned themselves back to back with their arms folded across their chests at the end of the performance. This position, and the wide smiles that had been on their faces, strangely reminded him very much of a position he was quite certain their idols had taken at least once under similar circumstances during their time as his students.

The 13 students on stage, meanwhile, were similarly feeling happy. Hobbes, naturally, was also feeling quite happy as he watched from his seated position in the left wing of the stage, happily panting as he stared in the direction of the equally happy and smiling Calvin and Susan. Even Charlotte had a small smile on her face, though hers had considerably less to do with the reason for the other gleeks' smiles and more to do with her own optimistic hope for the future of her own ulterior goal.

Nevertheless, regardless of reasons, all the gleeks were happy, and so was their teacher. And at that particular moment in time, that was all that mattered. Of course, what none of them knew for certain, if at all, was just how much more drama, wonder, love, dreams, and amazement they'd be put through over the course of the days, weeks, and months that would follow. Not to mention how one particular previous gleek generation they were equal parts inspired by and equal parts willing to set themselves apart from would end up playing a powerfully large role further down the line in their time as New Directioneers. But of course, right now the future wasn't what mattered. Right now, what truly mattered was how everyone immediately involved was happy, excited, and willing to keep moving and looking forward to what was to come. As of that moment, it was safe to say that, after all the drama that had occurred so far and would doubtless come into fruition much later on, a new generation had truly been born.

 **The End**

 **And just like that, the story ends. Once again, I apologize for the ungodly long wait. BUt nevertheless, I also hope very much that this finale (for this story anyway) proves well worth the wait (not to mention enough to keep you all pacified and entertained in the interim I now must take from writing Glee fanfiction). Much as was the case for previous chapters, this chapter requires a minimum of 1 review in order to guarantee that I'll have the will to return to Glee fanfiction writing once I've reached a sufficient stopping point in my return to writing for Teen Titans fanfiction. Once again, hope you all read, review, and enjoy this chapter, and that you all enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it, and that you all are more than willing to wait for me once again as you did the last time I went on hiatus for this fanfiction community. That all said and done, thank you once more for all of your support. It truly means a lot to me, and I hope that you will once again patiently wait for me during my new hiatus just like you did the last time I took an extended leave from writing Glee fanfiction. Once again, thank you.**


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